By J. K. Nabary
Saltpond (C/R), March 11, GNA – Staff of Ghana Education Staff Development Institute (GESDI) have been urged to execute their duties creditably to ensure improved teaching and learning across the country.
Ms. Angela Frimpomaa Nkansah, Acting Director, Human Resource Management Division of the Ghana Education Service (GES), made the call in an address read on her behalf by Mrs. Victoria Amonoo-Assane, Head of Staff Development and Training of GES, at a maiden staff durbar at the Institute’s premises at Saltpond.
The event was on the theme: “Improving Teaching and Learning in Schools, the Role of GESDI.”
The Institute’s vision is to provide quality service for Professional Development and its mission is to deliver quality service for Ghana Education Staff Development and Career Progression to ensure quality education delivery.
Ms. Nkansah urged the staff to use the occasion to examine themselves, correct their weaknesses and strengthen their delivery processes to improve education in Ghana.
She said the facility served as a centre for building the capacities of teachers to improve their skills and competences to deliver quality services in schools and offices and in collaboration with educational stakeholders.
The stakeholders include non-governmental organizations, the Education Development Trust (EDT) in United Kingdom (UK) and the Institute for Educational planning and Administration (IEPA) of the University of Cape Coast.
“More importantly, GESDI assesses services and professional development needs to drive training initiatives, as it serves as a hub for identifying and coordinating sustainable training solution for staff of the Service,” she noted.
Mrs Nkansah said the institute would work closely with the stakeholders to achieve its objectives and called for support for activities.
Mrs. Eva Gyina-Bediako, Director of GESDI, said the Institute established in Saltpond in the late 1940s to provide In-service training for Pupil Teachers, was formerly called Ghana Education Service Training and Courses Centre (GESTCC).
It later in the 1960s hosted the curriculum research and development division and by the late 1970s, Teacher Education Division had taken over the management of the centre.
She indicated that currently, the institute was being given a face-lift to serve as an effective and efficient Staff Career Development Centre.
She mentioned inadequate staff, office equipment such as computers, photocopier machine, scanners, printers and also vehicle and a bus as some of their challenges.
On the way forward, she appealed for the construction of additional hostel blocks and conference room to accommodate more participants and also the upgrading of the institute to international standards for professional development and conferences.
“GESDI is for teachers so let’s make very good use of it to improve ourselves so that teaching and learning can also be improved in our schools,” she urged the teachers.
GNA