Don't hypocritically wish us Happy Teachers' Day since there's nothing to be happy about — Sir Newton

An aggrieved Ghanaian teacher says Ghana should not wish teachers in the country a “Happy Teachers Day” since there is nothing “Happy” about their profession today.

Sir Newton Kwasi says the Ghanaian teacher has been reduced to a non-entity by successive governments and the country must not pretend to be celebrating them on World Teachers Day.

The Mathematics teacher in a conversation with ModernGhana News on why he feels Ghanaians are being hypocritical in celebrating teachers quizzes, “what good thing is there about teachers in Ghana today that we should be celebrated? Wish us a Melancholic Teachers’ Day, that’s our state today.”

He continued, “From kindergarten to university lecturers, everyone is lamenting poor salary, poor treatment, disrespect from parents, relatives, GES, MoE, government, so what exactly are you people celebrating?

“In Ghana now, there is no yearly increments, motivation allowance has been canceled, responsibility allowance is no more coming, and sadly, the average salary of a teacher is GH2,000. Divide this by 30 and see whether the average teacher with a minimum of three kids can ever be happy.”

His reaction follows several goodwill messages being sent on both traditional and social media to teachers on Tuesday which is marked as World Teachers’ Day.

It is a day set aside to celebrate the selflessness, dedication and powerful impartation of knowledge from teachers to pupils and students.

The theme for the 2021 celebration is: “Teachers at the heart of Education Recovery.”

But Sir Newton Kwasi was of the view that even though the theme is very appropriate, paying lip service to it would only be to the detriment of the nation.

“If we are placing teachers at the heart of the education recovery, we know what to do. If you pay lip service to placing us at the heart of the recovery too, we will only be sitting on the fence and watch you achieve that recovery, as many teachers are doing now.

“In Ghana now, a lot of things are not going right in the educational sector, but majority of teachers are afraid to voice out due to intimidation and witch-hunting. But policymakers should rather be worried at this because even though teachers seem to have been silenced, it is the students who are bearing the brunt. My brother, we won’t see it now oo,” he cautioned.