Tamale, March 14, GNA – Sixty head teachers in the Northern Region have undergone training to build their capacity to effectively manage their schools.
The training is also to help promote a conducive environment for teachers, parents, and children to participate in the school management systems.
Drawn from the Savelugu, Kumbungu and Tolon districts, the head teachers were equipped with effective school leadership skills to improve the learning outcomes of children across the country.
The three-day training in Tamale was held under the Partners in Play Project (P3), organised by Right To Play, a child-centered non-governmental organisation.
It was funded by the LEGO Foundation and jointly implemented by Right To Play and the Ministry of Education and its agencies.
Mr Solomon Kyeremah-Darko, Training Officer at Right To Play, speaking during the training, explained that: “It is a follow-up to an earlier one the head teachers underwent on play-based learning.”
He said the highlight of the training was to enable participants to understand what it meant for “Children to learn through play, for teachers to be able to integrate play in the lesson planning and delivery and head teachers to monitor and provide support for teachers on play-based lesson delivery.”
It was also to help them understand the importance of professional community sessions to ensure that they ran very effective sessions in their schools to build the capacity of all teachers to implement the standard-based curriculum, Kyeremah-Darko said.
He observed that the standard-based curriculum focused heavily on activity-based learning, saying; “that is what Right To Play has been trumpeting.”
“So teachers should embrace the standard-based curriculum, as well as embrace using activities in the classroom, because when learning is fun, it increases enrolment in the school, and increases learners’ ability to understand concepts very easily.”
Dr Issahaque Munawaru, the Savelugu Municipal Director of Education, lauded the training and said: “This is what teachers need to execute the mandate of Ghana Education Service, which is effective teaching and learning.”
He encouraged the head teachers to enforce professional conduct and behaviour at the schools to improve education outcomes.
Mr Mohammed Faisal, Head Teacher of Wala D/A Primary School in the Tolon District, said the training had updated his knowledge on how to effectively perform his duties and that it would help in lesson designs to improve learning by children.
Madam Vivian Mahama, Headmistress of Kings Primary School in the Kumbungu District, said the training, aside improving learning outcomes, lessens the workload on the teacher.
“It has made our work simple because the teacher works as the facilitator and since children are interested in more play, it lessens the work on you,” she said.
GNA