The government of Ghana has celebrated the immeasurable contribution of teachers in the country towards human development and nation-building.
Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia on Wednesday (October 5, 2022) joined teachers of Ghana on behalf of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to commemorate the Ghana Teacher Prize 2022 in Tamale under the theme: “The Transformation of Education Begins with Teachers”.
In his remarks, Dr Bawumia said teachers are profoundly essential to our world because they deliver education and as the world acknowledges that education is the most powerful weapon that fights poverty, insecurity, environmental degradation, gender and racial discrimination, diseases and many other human sufferings, underscoring the importance for those who deliver education to be well acknowledged and appreciated.
“The World Teachers’ Day presents us an opportunity to put a spotlight on the critical responsibility our teachers bear in ensuring that our children enjoy the right quality education. I am always fascinated by the GNAT slogan that says, “If you can read this, thank a teacher” he emphasized.
The Vice President stated, “Indeed, the government of President Akufo-Addo acknowledges the value of education to human development and nation building, hence our massive investment in our education system including our teachers. However, the massive investment in education will come to nothing if our teachers do not rise to the occasion and respond positively to the great vision of transforming our nation through education.”
“It is a proven fact that no nation in the world has developed without a conscious investment in its education system and the teachers who deliver the education” he stressed.
Policy interventions
Dr Mahamudu Bawumia highlighted the policy interventions of the Akufo-Addo administration to transform the country’s educational sector to meet global standards and best practices.
He noted it is in the light of this that the government has introduced the standard based curriculum that focuses on the four Rs – Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic and cReativity which he pointed out that will lead to 21st century skills of critical thinking, innovation, collaboration, communication and problem-solving.
Dr Bawumia added the intentional and focused attention on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education is to equip our people to compete favourably in the world of technology and artificial intelligence, asserting “This is what will make our growing youthful population employable, this is what will make them entrepreneurial, and this is what will boost industrialization under the One District One Factory agenda.”
Strategies
The Vice President also indicated the strategy of the New Patriotic Party government is to ensure no Ghanaian child of school-going age in the country is denied access to education due to the cost; which has therefore necessitated the introduction of the free Senior High School education through which enrolment has increased by 50 per cent.
He said another giant step taken is the establishment of the Ghana TVET Service to make technical vocational education and training (TVET) more attractive to learners with emphasis on skills training and development and in realizing this policy, he posited the government has equipped a lot of the TVET institutions with state of the art equipment to provide 21st-century skills to our learners.
“With the construction of 32 TVET institutions, coupled with the introduction of Free TVET, our nation is on its way to the 4th industrial revolution, and with more jobs to be created for the youth.”
Dr Bawumia continued that, “As part of the education transformation agenda of the government, we have targeted tertiary enrolment ratio of 40% by the year 2030. The current ratio of 20% is not enough to propel our nation towards industry 4.0. We are therefore investing heavily in tertiary institutions to be able to absorb the numbers graduating from the TVET and the Senior High Schools.”
