The President of Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT),Joseph Kwaku Adjei, on Monday called on various institutions that offered distance education to teachers to give prominence to Information Technology (IT) in their curricula.
“GNAT believes that IT should feature very prominently on the curricula of teachers on distance and sandwich programmes to equip them with that knowledge”, he said.
Mr. Adjei said this at the launch of this years’ World Teachers day under the theme: ‘Teachers Matter’ which falls on October 5. The celebration coincidentally also falls into activities marking the 2008 GNAT Week.
The theme emphasized the contribution of teachers to societal development, highlighting the provision of quality education to ensure that poverty and ignorance were nipped in the bud.
He said, “We live in a computer age which exposes pupils and students to all sorts of information on various subjects on the internet. While this is a positive development, it also throws a big challenge to the teacher who is not well versed IT”.
“We however commend government for its financial support for teachers pursuing distance and sandwich programmes, the introduction of school feeding programme and the capitation grants which has increased enrolment in schools across the country”, Mr Adjei added.
On the new education reforms, Mr Adjei noted the need for government to provide the required infrastructure, manpower and other vital resources to enhance teaching and learning.
“Undoubtedly, teachers play a unique and central role in ensuring its success, we there urge government to be committed to meeting the modest demands of teachers in order motivate them to put in their maximum”, he added.
Mrs Irene Duncan-Adanusa, Vice President, Education International-Africa Region said about 18 million qualified teachers were needed worldwide to achieve the MDGs by 2015.
“Professional development, especially in developing countries is important to ensure quality education for all”, she added.
Activities slated for the day included awards night and commemoration of the day on Tuesday October 7, at Sunyani.
Morden Ghana