TEACHER, KEY TO EDUCATION

EDUCATION is one of the key drivers of the development process in any society. A sound education structure triggers manpower empowerment, knowledge and an enlightened society, which is able to lead a crusade for social transformation and economic progress.
The teacher is key in the success of the educational enterprise, so the direction of the teaching and learning process hinges on the quality of the teacher.
The teacher’s role in education involves imparting the broad content of knowledge within which students can understand their environment better by developing an enquiring and critical mind. This learning process enables students to express their thoughts and confront difficulties that face them.
Thus, the teacher has a very difficult task in character formation because although the student spends a greater part of time in the home, most parents have neglected their character training aspect of their parental responsibilities and left it in the hands of teachers.
While majority of Ghanaians concede that teachers deserve better than their present conditions of service, it is equally objectionable for some of them, trained at the taxpayer’s expense, to abandon the profession after upgrading themselves.
This frustration was echoed by President J. A. Kufuor yesterday during the Golden Jubilee celebration of the Association of French Teachers when he said “when the Ghana Education Service (GES) sponsors your education, it is unethical for you to leave the profession when you have not sufficiently given back what is expected of you”.
As the President noted, there could be no functional education without teachers and so our teachers must continue to commit themselves to the policy of character formation of our youth.
Teachers generally are unhappy about the present level of recognition from society and expect that society would do more to restore that dignity in order to enhance their confidence level to deal with the challenges in the education sector.
Gone are the days when the teaching profession was a status symbol and the teacher acted as a spokesperson for any community.
The irony of it all is that while the popular dictum reminds us that “if you can read and write, thank the teacher”, society believes that the teacher’s reward is in heaven.
However, the harsh realities of our time dictate that immediate action is taken to address the unfavourable service conditions of teachers to bring back the glorious days of the teaching profession in order to motivate teachers to serve in any part of the country and train the future leaders of this country wholeheartedly.
The Daily Graphic believes that teachers have to change some of their bad habits such as absenteeism, lateness, drunkenness, refusal to accept postings to rural areas and using state facilities for private business and rather support the government’s new educational reform to turn out a new breed of Ghanaians.
Teachers must take up the challenge under the new educational reform programme to prepare students for a range of career pathways by helping them to develop the skills, habits and attitudes they can retain over a lifetime.
We think that the country needs teachers who can help in moulding the character of their students by developing in them the ability to recognise and seize opportunities in their environment so that they can be creative and self-reliant. But most important, the teacher must be able to mentor and act as a role model to his or her students by providing support structures that make learning purposeful and engaging.