Many teachers ignorant about philosophy of education - Director

Tumu, Aug.24, GNA - Mr. Francis Avousige, Sissala East District Director of Education, has said called on subject associations in Ghana to hold peer discussions on the philosophy of education and the national development objectives at the various levels to ensure that members understand them properly.

Speaking at this year's ActionAid Girls' Camp at Tumu, Mr. Avousige observed that many teachers are not aware of the philosophy of education in Ghana .

He said it was equally true that the few who knew it had not carefully given it a thought and considered how that philosophy should influence the way they teach the subject and how it should be assessed at the various levels.

"We have to re-examine the way we teach. At our conferences and workshops therefore, teachers should be selected to demonstrate the best of practices in the teaching of our subjects", Mr. Avousige advised.

He urged members of subject associations to be willing to articulate their views and experiences in the teaching of specific difficult topics for others to learn while they also allocate time to examine chief examiners reports from West Africa Examinations Council on the SSSCE and BECE.

They should have time to examine the type of questions set for the final examinations and their comments should be forwarded to the appropriate quarters for study and rectification.

Mr. Avousige encouraged members of the subject associations to avail themselves to assist with the setting of WAEC questions and the marking of the scripts.

"Members of subject associations should influence the setting of final examinations at the various levels since questions influence the way students learn and the way teachers teach", he explained.

Madam Esther Boateng, Programme Manager of ActionAid Ghana, a non-governmental organisation, said the concept of girls camp dated from 2000 where selected girls from all ActionAid operational regions met in Accra to have their confidence boosted to aspire them to become better future leaders.

She said the programme had chalked successes as it helped produce lawyers, engineers, teachers, security officers and health professionals, among others, for the country.

She said ActionAid considered the Girls Camp as a strategic way of empowering girls, hence it decided to replicate it at the regional level to give more girls from deprived communities the opportunity to participate and reap the benefits.

Madam Boateng said the 2009 Girls Camp which had the theme "Empowering girls through education: Safe school, better performance", was the first of its kind organised at the district level for girls in Sissala East District. She gave the assurance that a similar exercise would be organised for girls in the Jirapa District from August 30 to September 2.

GNA