Sunyani, June 17, GNA – There is an urgent need to increase the number of teachers in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District (STKD) of the Savannah Region, Dr Jacob Aaworb-Nang M. Kor, a former Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), has disclosed.
He said a good number of teachers would promote effective teaching and learning to ensure a quality standard of education in the district.
The district is also said to be in dire need of logistics such as tables and chairs, Dr Kor said, adding that because of furniture deficiency in all the schools, pupils either lie down or sit on the bare floor to write and be taught.
According to him, what had been compounding the situation “is that most teachers posted to the area applied for reposting after spending a few months in the district.”
”A survey has revealed that 144 teachers were posted to schools in the STKD in the 2021/2022 academic year and within the year, 55 teachers were added, but out of the 199 teachers posted, 109 of them asked for re-posting and were re-posted in the same academic year.”
Dr Kor, who was speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview in Sunyani, said that based on the outcome of research he had conducted in the district, “most of the teachers posted to the district are from the southern part of the country and do not enjoy living and serving in that area.”
As a solution to the pupil/student-teacher ratio deficiency, “there are natives who are qualified teachers with the licensure certificate living in the district and yet not engaged. So, engaging such teachers may be a partial solution to the issue of re-posting,” he suggested.
He said the survey revealed the number of teachers in some schools as of May 2022 gave credence to the clarion call for the Ministry of Education, the GES and other stakeholders’ to intervene immediately to change the situation for the better instead of getting worse.
Dr Kor indicated both public and private schools from kindergarten to JHS in the District had a total enrolment of 24,439 pupils and students for the 2021/2022 academic year, but only a teacher population of 448, constituting 339 males and 109 females.
He described the situation as “very serious” drawback to the quality performance of pupils and students and a big contributory factor to the low standard of education in the District.
Dr Kor, however, commended the District Education Directorate for its efforts regarding the enrollment for the 2021/2022 academic year.
But he expressed regret that “the number of teachers is highly inadequate”, saying “information gathered across the District reflected that not less than 566 teachers are required to cover the deficiency.”
GNA