Give genuine priority to education - Prof Obanya

Cape Coast, July 13, GNA - The Chairman of the Educational Research Network for West and Central Africa (ERNWACA), Professor Pai Obanya, has appealed to African governments and policy makers to give genuine priority to education in Africa instead of paying lip service to it.

He said the time had come for people to have scientific conception of education by making professional teachers and educators head the Education Ministry and other education institutions instead posting unqualified people to manage such facilities.

Prof Obanya said this at the opening of the 56th World Assembly of the International Council on Education for Teaching (ICET) Conference at the University of Cape Coast (UCC).

The three-day conference, which is being attended by more than 250 participants drawn from 17 countries including Ghana, Nigeria, Malawi, Kenya, United State of America, United Kingdom and Japan is under the theme “The changing Global Perspective on the Role of Teacher and Teacher education” .

It is to deliberate on strategies for the preparation of the teacher for the 21st century as well as to advance the objectives of ICET by creating opportunities for dialogue and sharing best practices that would support the preparation of the contemporary teacher.

Prof. Obanya who spoke on the ''Looming threats to teachers, teaching and education” spoke about the important role teachers play in the socio-economic development and said there was the need to provide the requisite facilities that would enhance the effective training of teachers.

He expressed regret that no provisions had been made for self actualization of teachers in African and that teachers had not also been given enough grooming in their profession, resulting in low self esteem among them.

He appealed to teachers to take their work seriously by doing creative teaching, adding that creativity was the hallmark for both the teacher and of the teaching profession.

Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, Vice Chancellor of the UCC, commended ICET for its programmes and activities and said it had provided a platform for promoting cooperation between higher education institutions, government and the private sector to develop a worldwide network of resources for innovative programmes in international educational development.

She said the Faculty of Education of UCC still place much emphasis on education and that it has accepted to turn the UCC into a Pan African centre where all young academics would receive training in pedagogy and related skills when they complete their post graduate studies and wish to teach at the university.

Prof Opoku-Agyemang said the Centre for Continuing Education had deepened its commitment by bringing teacher education to the doorsteps of those who would otherwise have negligible chance of advancing their knowledge base, and that 80% of the 34,000 students on distance learning were teachers in the field.

GNA