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Eric Asomani, a 39-year-old teacher from the Naylor Seventh-day Adventist School in Community Theme 6, was crowned Ghana’s Outstanding Teacher Monday at the Cape Coast National Teachers Day celebration.
The enterprising professor with more than 12 years of experience in the teaching of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and Integrated Sciences will receive a 3-bedroom house worth GHC180,000.00 and other assorted items during the third edition of the ‘Prize for Teachers of Ghana ‘2020.
Gloria Anima Junior, teacher at Presbyterian Elementary School No. Aboabo’s No. 4, who was the first runner-up, took home a 4 X 4 double cab pick-up truck, while Ms. Sandrah Osei from Akwatia Technical Institute received a saloon as a second runner-up.
In all, 17 others, including teaching and non-teaching staff who excelled in their various fields of activity, received refrigerators, laptops, flat screens and other assorted awards.
The awards instituted in 1995, were renamed in 2018 and dubbed the “Ghana Teachers Award” in accordance with international standards as the new benchmark to reward teachers who had shown class and distinguished themselves to motivate other teachers to emulate.
Celebrated with the theme: “Teacher Leadership in Developing an Educational Crisis Response”, the main objective of the awards scheme was to inspire teachers for high performance, restore the dignity of protection, and retain qualified teachers and overall effectiveness in classrooms.
In a speech read on behalf of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufu-Addo by the Central Regional Minister, Kwamena Duncan praised all teachers for their immeasurable role in training the nation’s manpower needs.
Citing examples from countries such as Singapore, Finland, Korea and Canada, the President recognized that all developed societies that had achieved outstanding results in training and economic development had demonstrated that the quality of teachers was the most important determinant of their success. .
“For us to be successful in our nation as well, we must pay attention to teachers,” he said, adding that it was just a crop of well-trained, self-confident and satisfied teachers who can provide the country’s educated and skilled workforce. required to progress.
As part of efforts to provide strong support to the sector, the president said that the government with the support of “Friends of Ghana”, in collaboration with the Norwegian Teacher Initiative (NTI), was developing a comprehensive teacher policy through the Ghana Teacher Taskforce.
The project seeks the well-being, conditions of service, professional growth of teachers and other support mechanisms that allow them to compete globally and meaningfully to “influence the way teachers train, live their lives, grow in the profession and they get learning outcomes. “
On the impact of Covid-19 on education, President Akufu-Addo assured the country of his unwavering commitment to ensuring that the coronavirus pandemic does not truncate education or jeopardize the future of students and praised teachers for their support. in that sense.
“I reserve special praise for our teachers, who helped ensure that the students’ stay at the school was a success despite the genuine safety concerns raised, along with the condemnation announced by some in the political space, the Teachers unions cooperated with the Ministry in discussions and plans, leading to the gradual reopening of schools, ”said the president.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, reiterated the Government’s commitment to sustain the progress made in education to ensure equal, affordable and accessible education for all.
He reiterated that the government had redoubled its drive to leverage technology through online and other platforms to provide effective teaching and learning for all students.
According to him, the government had prioritized the well-being of teachers and remained committed to what he described as the “Teacher First” policy to ensure that they were central to any educational reform, equipped, trained and supported to deliver learning outcomes for teachers. quality to support development aspirations.
“We are supporting teachers in their continuing professional education by providing a special incentive in the form of ‘professional assignments’ for them, and we will continue to provide the necessary support to ensure adequate teaching quality to meet the needs and challenges of our society.”
He admonished everyone to religiously adhere to the Covid-19 protocols and assured that the government was working assiduously to protect all children in schools to improve their well-being.
“We have also had to find safe ways to open our schools to a limited cohort, seniors to complete their final exams, and then for sophomore JHS, SHS, and students continuing in college to return to the school”. added.
The Director General of the Ghana Education Service, Professor Kwesi Opoku Amankwah, said that delivering education in the midst of the pandemic relied heavily on improvisation and creativity and urged them to apply technical knowledge on knowledge sharing in those moments.
He called for a sustained partnership with the government as the government sought to implement pre-tertiary education policies.
The national president of the Ghana National Teachers Association (GNAT), Philippa Larsen, who read a speech on behalf of all teachers unions, thanked them for their years of dedication and commitment to duty amid the pandemic and among others. , and encouraged teachers to improve themselves in their chosen fields.
