News:
October 5, 2011
The Member of Parliament for Amenfi Central, George Kofi Arthur has called for a review of the selection criteria for the National Best Teacher Award.
According to him, the situation where Headmasters and other officials of the Education Service select and endorse teachers for award based on how regular he/she attends school, how regular he/she write s lesson notes exetera, is not enough to win any teacher the national best teacher award.
The MP noted that all though the above mentioned requirements are necessary and must be encouraged, he contended that for a teacher to be adjudged the national best teacher, he/she should have impacted positively on the lives of the students or pupils he teaches.
“That person must have been able to change a student’s state from bad to good, be it academically or behaviorally, some teachers go the extra mile of actually ensuring truant kids stay in school and performs well academically, and these are the people who should be rewarded for their good deeds’’ he said.
Hon. George Kofi Arthur made the suggestion when he was contributing to a panel discussion of this year’s National Best Teacher Award event on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem programme, on Thursday.
The event which was held on Wednesday at Secondi, was won by Joshua Amankwah Otu, of the Garden City Special School in Kumasi.
He said, students must also have a stake in deciding who becomes the National Best Teacher since they have direct contact with their teachers and may be in a better position to make nominations.
Hon Kofi Arthur was however excited that a teacher from the Special Education sector had won the prestigious award, adding that it’s been long overdue and urged government to address the concerns and problems in the special education unit.
Kwadwo Anim/ghanamps.gov.gh