First cycle teachers must be specialists- GES Official

Primary and Junior Secondary School teachers must of necessity be specialists in the subjects they teach, Justice Aboa Ofei of the Inspectorate Division of the Ghana Education Service has stated.

“The teacher training programme is defective. Certificate “A” teachers do not have what it takes to teach in Junior Secondary Schools,” he said in a paper he presented at the first edition of the 2007 West African Examinations Council Seminar.

The topic was “Ghana's Education at a crossroads”.

He recommended that under the present upgrading of Teacher Training Colleges, teachers with Diplomas in primary education should handle primary schools while those with two subject Diplomas teach in junior secondary schools.

He argued that the introduction of the JSS System should have been accompanied with the appropriate training programme for teachers.

He noted that currently any person after completing initial teacher training can be posted to either a primary or a junior secondary school, a situation which is unacceptable.

“People enter teacher training with myriad of qualifications and are not suitable materials for secondary school teaching,” he rioted.

“That inconsistency has resulted in the increase in senior secondary education years from three to four which is a complete turn,” Mr Aboa Ofei said.

He described supervision in public schools as another “sour area” in the education system of Ghana.

Supervision, he said should lead to growth and development and must ensure that all functionaries in the school perform their roles effectively as it should be.

“It must also ensure that the right things are taught and the school curriculum is fully complied with,” he added.

Source: The Ghanaian Times