By Francis Kwabena Cofie
Accra, Aug 31, GNA – Madam Fuseina Fuseini, the 2024 National Best Teacher, has launched an initiative to rebrand selected deprived kindergarten schools with the supply of learning materials across the country.
The initiative is on the theme; “Empowering Young Minds, Transforming Communities.”
The rebranding would prioritize three regions in the first phase through needs assessment out of the 16 regions which are the Oti, Greater Accra, and Eastern Regions.
About 20 kindergartens in the three regions would benefit from classroom logistics and teaching aids to enhance teaching and learning.
Madam Fuseini who is a kindergarten teacher at Madina SDA Basic School in Accra in an interview with the Ghana News Agency during the launch, said government alone could not shoulder the burden of improving educational development.
She called on all well-meaning stakeholders and Ghanaians at large to support education.
Madam Fuseini commended basic education teachers for their dedication to duty while encouraging them to persevere in selfless commitment and hard work, adding that they would have a story to tell one day.
She applauded parents for their instrumental role in providing moral and material support to children and the school without which teachers could not carry out their work successfully.
According to her, for children to acquit themselves well in class, much would depend on the classroom learning environment and the commitment of the teacher.
She mentioned that for education to bear fruit in any nation, the foundation should be strong through sustainable policies and well-thought-out curriculum.
Teachers, she indicated, needed to be innovative and possibly improvise resources to make teaching interesting in the classroom in fulfilment of their calling which was sacrificial.
She disclosed that in her 20 years of being in the classroom, there have been measurable improvement in all dimensions of education but much needed to be done to strengthen the foundation of education.
She, however, commended the government for ongoing efforts to uplift the state of basic education to make it more productive and result oriented.
Madam Victoria Yeboah, the Regional Early Childhood Coordinator, pointed out that early childhood was the foundation of education, which required well thought-out policy initiatives.
She said the basic education curriculum sought to prepare the child for long term educational development therefore, requiring enriched ingredients and a balance of development concepts.
She explained that one of the action areas of the early childhood policy talks about family and community engagement in holistic support of learners, teachers and the school.
Therefore, the rebranding would enhance the conducive state of the classrooms to make it congenial to learners which would boost knowledge acquisition.
Mr Osama Makkawi Khogali, the UNICEF Representative to Ghana, said quality education was not about merely being in the classroom but how learners could learn.
He indicated that human minds develop by the age of three by which time, such children gain the ability to understand concepts to develop into adult life.
Mr Osama said parents played critical role in building the foundation of children and as far as education was concern, “The family with parents are the first teachers,” adding that teachers must be motivated to deliver quality education.
He called on the government to redouble its efforts in this direction as a model for the continent to follow.
“You are one of the leaders in Africa and Africa looks up to you. You must make it, not only for yourself but the whole continent, which seems overdue to get to the next in the international community,” he stated.
Dr Christian Addai-Poku, in a message on behalf of the Registrar of the National Teaching Council, commended the best teacher for the initiative, which would mitigate the challenges facing basic education.
He said the Council would leverage her experience as a resource person for the Continuous Professional Development Programme.
Madam Beatrice Opoku, the Headmistress of Madina SDA Basic School, urged all teachers to demonstrate good faith in their calling while calling for support from well-meaning individuals and benevolent organizations to support the initiative.
There were presentations and distribution of teacher-learner resources to some selected deprived community schools and presentation of citation to deserving learners.
GNA
Edited by Lydia Kukua Asamoah