Education Officers Told To Be Humble

Mrs. Georgina Amidu, an official of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), has urged education workers and officers to be humble so as to impact positively on the lives of people.

Speaking at a five-day workshop for education officers at Kumasi on the theme, “Promoting Right-age Enrollment, Retention and Completion through Safe School Approaches and Practices”, Mrs. Amidu said education workers were agents of development and so there is the need for them to use good communication and human relations skills in dealing with people.

“Parents would send their children to school at the right time if we can patiently remind them of the benefits. In order to have all school-age children in school, we have to mobilisemembers of communities and talk to them, with humility, on the need for child education”, she said.

Mr. HyounJoon Kim, an official of UNICEF and a facilitator at the workshop, believed that effective communication can cause positive attitudinal change of peopleto education no matter how unyielding the people might appear in having to send their children to school at the right time.

Mr. SulemanaYusif, an officer of Ghana Education Service, who was also a facilitator at the workshop, advised the participants to take records of their activities at all times.

“It is advisable to take records of all your activities and to make sure that you do not forge any data so that whatever you report on will be seen to be timely, accurate and reliable”, he said.

It is reported that about 20% of Ghanaian children fail to enroll at the first year of kindergarten education at the mandatory age of four years.

The writer is an educationist and a public relations officer at the Headquarters of Ghana Education Service in Accra.

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