THE best teaching and non-teaching personnel awards ceremony for the Volta Region over the past three years was held at the OLA Senior High School at Ho at the weekend.
In all, 53 teachers, including 27 females selected from both first and second cycle institutions and seven non-teaching staff, were rewarded with prizes for their meritorious achievements from 2006 to 2008.
The first award winners in each of the five categories, comprising the primary, junior and senior high schools, colleges of education and vocational/technical institutes took home a refrigerator, whilst the second and third award winners received a television set and gas cooker each respectively.
The ceremony was part of a programme to present 30 laptops and their accessories to each of the three basic schools in the region.
The schools are the Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Primary School at Dambai in the Krachi East District, Hohoe Roman Catholic Basic Schools and Woe Local Authority Basic Schools in the Keta Municipality.
In a keynote address, the Volta Regional Minister, Mr Joseph Amenowode, underscored the importance of education in this competitive global world, and said it was only a nation of educated, skilled, well informed and morally sound people that could build a just and prosperous nation.
He said it was in view of this that the government was rolling out a number of teacher-support schemes and incentive packages, including the deprived area allowance, the provision and expansion of teaching and learning facilities, in-service training and skills upgrading programmes, among others, he stated.
He gave the assurance that the government would create the enabling environment for teachers to upgrade themselves through the acquisition of knowledge and skills required for their effective performance, adding that self development should be their priority.
“Such opportunities and facilities as study leave with pay in the tertiary institutions, distance education programmes as well as scholarships for overseas studies are therefore open to our teachers to take advantage of”, he said.
Mr Amenowode, however, expressed concern that in spite of heavy investment in training teachers , performance at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and the West Africa Senior Schools Certificate Examination (WASSCE) have not been encouraging.
The minister commended the award winners for their dedication and commitment and also for impacting positively the lives of many who had gone through their tutelage.
Earlier in a welcoming address, the Volta Regional Director of Education, Mr Gabriel Kploanyi, appealed to communities to show interest by contributing positively to issues affecting teaching and learning in their schools.
No comments:
Post a Comment