Teacher! Wake up from slumber and fight for your right!

There is this simple adage that,'' all professionals can boast but teacher taught them all'' .A teacher impacts knowledge and contributes meaningfully in the upbringing of a child to be useful citizen in a society and Ghana as country. Therefore, genuinely, a teacher cannot be exempted in the total development of future leaders and better implementation of policies in the country. Society equalizes teacher to man of God. Admittedly, one can therefore conclude without uncertainty and undeniable fact that teachers contribute in all endeavors in all activities in a society. It is indisputable that, children respect, obey and pay heel to words of their teachers even than their parents even though teachers act as ''Loco Parentis''. Are teachers, teachers as we used to know!

I feel exceedingly gladdened and proud to be professional graduate teacher.I sometimes sit quietly and ponder over these questions:

• Where is teaching as a profession heading towards?
• Are teachers seen as teachers who mould and shape the lives of children now called future leaders?
• Are teachers safe in the hands of stakeholders?
• Do teachers have their lives and future to protect to enjoy their meager salary called pension pay or retirement benefit?

The answer is very simple, i see teaching as calling just as God calls men of God. If you are not called by God to be a teacher,you will always have a course to bitterly complain and rant at the end yielding nothing in return.

Comparatively, do other sectors such as security, health, and others go through what teachers are passing through now?

Recently, there was a news trending published by Ghanaweb dated Mon, 6 May 2019 captioned,

''Headteacher beaten to death by teenage ‘wee smokers’''

That four students ruthlessly beat Headteacher of Salvation Army Basic School, George Somuah Bosompem to death.

The Headteacher, 55, was attacked for protesting against the invasion of his garden by drug addicts who smoke and defecate in the school.

Four days before the attack, the headteacher went on an Information center to caution the youth to desist from smoking in the school to avert prosecution.

On April 28, 2019 while walking with a lady friend, the suspected addicts attacked the deceased headteacher with sticks, stones, blocks and other deadly weapons.

The question is, is it now wrong or crime to right the wrong or deviants or use any recognized and appropriate measures shape the lives of the deviants? Society and the general public are silent about this. Not asking teachers to fight for their right. If it was to be other way round,where the teacher lashed a student with cane and in the process led to the death of the student, you would have seen articles upon articles requesting for the same punishment meted out to that teacher concerned. When the Late Major Mahama was lynched, look at how the media and the well-meaning Ghanaians took it. May his gentle soul rest in peace. The Late Major Mahama was even given a state burial. Look at how the late Somuah Bosompem death is being handled. Oh! poor teacher! Alarmingly, the recent causes of manhandling meted and misbehavior exhibited by the same students taught by the same teachers towards teachers are as a result lack of involvement of classroom teachers in policymaking. It is time teachers wake up from slumber and echoe the songs of morality.

Source: Francis Amoasi Mensah