Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
Vice President Dr Mahamadu Bawumia has celebrated the remarkable achievements of Ghanaian teachers, describing them as the bedrock of the ongoing reforms in the country’s education sector.
The government, Dr Bawumia assured, would continue to partner with all stakeholders in the educational sector to produce graduates ready for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Delivering a speech on behalf of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the University of Development Studies (UDS) campus in Tamale on Wednesday to climax activities marking this year’s World Teacher Day, Dr Bawumia said the critical responsibility of teachers was to ensure that Ghanaian children had access to quality education.
“The government of President Akufo-Addo acknowledges the value of education to human development and nation building, hence our massive investment in our education system including our teachers,” he stated.
Vice President Bawumia, however, said the massive investment in education would come to nothing if teachers do not rise to the occasion and respond positively to the great vision of transforming our nation through education.
He said no nation has developed without a conscious investment in its education system and the teachers who deliver the education.
Teachers, according to the Vice President, were key to the success of the country’s education; the most powerful weapon in the fight against poverty, insecurity, environmental degradation, gender and racial discrimination, diseases, and many other human sufferings.
As a result, he indicated that it was important that those who deliver education are well acknowledged and appreciated.
The Vice President said the theme for this year’s celebration, ‘The Transformation of Education Begins with Teachers’ synchronized with the government’s education transformation agenda.
“Our education transformation agenda hinges on training our people to be creative, innovative, critical thinkers and technologically astute to lead our forward march towards the 4th industrial revolution.”
That, Dr Bawumia said was why the government introduced the standard-based curriculum that focused on the four Rs – Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic and cReativity, which will lead to 21st-century skills of critical thinking, innovation, collaboration, communication and problem-solving.
He said the government remained committed to the ‘Teacher First’ policy to ensuring that teachers, who are central to education reforms, were fully tooled, skilled and supported to deliver quality learning outcomes to support the country’s development aspirations.
The winner of the 2022 Ghana Teacher Prize, Stella Gyimaah Larbi of Adenta Community JHS, received a house worth GHC300,000, a scholarship to study abroad, an educational trip to Dubai and accelerated promotion to the next rank, known as ‘Out of Turn Promotion.’
Other award winners received vehicles, educational trips abroad and in most cases, a scholarship to study in any public tertiary institution of their choice in Ghana. For the first time, the best Non-Teaching Staff received a Saloon car as part of the award.