AYEKOO, TEACHERS (OCTOBER 8, 2008)

YESTERDAY was another occasion when teachers who have shown outstanding performance during the year were honoured.
In the past, some of the Best Teachers days had coincided with World Teachers Day, which falls on October 6 annually and is a day set aside by the UN for countries to show solidarity with and respect to teachers for their role in national development.
It should be recognised that the theme for the UN’s World Teachers Day holds for any nation which agrees that education is the bedrock of development and that it is teachers who drive education.
As Ghanaians, we should question ourselves whether we are showing our teachers enough solidarity and respect.
Some of us may have our own against some teachers, but the question is, is the teacher impacting positively on national development?
There is this inscription, “If you can read this, thank a teacher”. Do we recognise how strong this statement is?
We are in an era when knowledge propels development; it helps to know what to pursue and what to avoid. It also helps us to prosecute certain things we do not consider important.
Do you imagine how the situation would be if you could not fill that form, write that letter or send that text message on your phone?
Do we pause to consider the worth of the teacher? How often have we not ignored teachers as “good-for-nothing” people who should be ignored even when they have legitimate demands?
Problems confronting teachers — such as non-payment of salaries, lack of teaching materials, absence of incentives like leave and medical allowances, teachers not having the privilege of paying their children’s fees at least up to senior high school level — undermine the morale of most of them to put in their best.
The DAILY GRAPHIC believes that if we need our teachers to arrest the falling standards of education, then we as a state, should endeavour to solve the problems of teachers, especially those concerning their work and then some of the personal ones.
We also appeal to teachers that whatever their problems are, they should consider the fact that they have chosen a profession whose image they alone can help to enhance.
This means they must eschew all acts of misbehaviour, including those which are ethical, such as absenteeism, drunkenness and not preparing adequately for lessons.
Since the nation is celebrating our teachers, the DAILY GRAPHIC salutes all teachers, both award winners and the rest.
Teachers are professionals who always deal with competition one way or another — grading their children at examinations, picking better players at games, etc. — and so we believe that even those who did not win any awards would see it as a challenge and put in their best in the years ahead and surely they will receive the best of all awards, which are the good things their pupils and students say about them even when they have left school.
Congratulations, our teachers. May you keep shining and impacting our development.