MCE Warns Teachers

Mohammed Kwaku Doku

The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for the area, Mohammed Kwaku Doku, who issued the warning, said he would personally call for the dismissal of teachers in the municipality who fail to teach their pupils effectively to pass the BECE.

According to Alhaji Kwaku Doku, 'If the performance of school children in the BECE is to be used as a yardstick to measure the performance and competence of the teachers in the area, then I dare to say that recent results of the children in the BECE have seriously indicted the professional competence of the teachers, especially those in the public schools within the municipality.'

The Asunafo North MCE disclosed this while addressing all public school teachers and head teachers in the Municipality during an emergency stakeholders meeting over the falling standard of education and poor academic performance of pupils in the Municipality in recent times.

'Let us do a comparative analysis by looking at a typical basic private school - Bright Star Preparatory (a private school in the area) and a public one - Fawohoyeden L/A Junior High School (a public local school).

'If Bright Star Preparatory School with non-professional teachers, who were not trained with the taxpayers' money earning a monthly average salary of GH¢100.00 without any other benefits are teaching effectively and producing good results between aggregates 7 and 32 (98 % pass), and on the other hand, newly-posted teachers at Fawohoyeden L/A JHS trained with taxpayers' money and earning an average of GH¢944.00 in addition to a Retention premium of GH¢123.88 with other benefits are ineffectively producing zero percent results, then it calls into question the integrity of both teachers and officers of the Municipal Education Directorate,' he pointed out.

Alhaji Kwaku Doku said per his analysis of the situation, there might be other reasons for the abysmal performance of public schools in the BECE in the Municipality.

'But for me, I believe lateness, drunkenness, lackadaisical attitude towards work, non-commitment, sabotage and non-supervision on the part of teachers and education directorate have brought us to this level,' he noted.

The MCE was of the view that the work ethic of some professional teachers, as well as supervisors at the Municipal Education Directorate leaves much to be desired, saying 'The canker of lateness, laziness, absenteeism, drunkenness, disrespectful conduct, apathy, dirty politicking and abject sabotage has bedeviled our public educational sector.'

The negative tendencies, he said, have seriously affected the performance of teachers and pupils, especially at the basic level.

He therefore urged all teachers in the area to discharge of their duties effectively to improve education in the Municipality.

 FROM Fred Tettey Alarti-Amoako, Sunyani