Teachers are the heartbeat of the nation, place premium value on them
Teachers are the heartbeat of the nation, and the linchpin in nation-building yet, little respect is given to them.
It sometimes looks as though as a nation we have not realized that right from the President of the land to the highest-paid professionals are all a reflection of the hard work of teachers at every level of their education.
Teachers have been battling with the world’s most deadly virus called illiteracy since the days of Adam but have never been seen as premium beings.
If we begin to see illiteracy as a perpetual global pandemic and teachers as frontline education workers, then we will begin to re-position our value we place on their priceless efforts.
“Teacher is a maker of man. He is the foundation of all Education, and thus of the whole civilization of mankind, present, and future. No nation reconstruction is possible without the active cooperation of the teacher.” (Saharan & Sethi, 2009)
The facts indicated above are yet to be ingrained in the minds of political leadership in Ghana. Sadly, teachers are less valued, they have to battle the government for the little they earn as income and in the case of the legacy arrears, the least said the better.
The time to invest in education is now because the kind of education sector and teachers we will have depends on our commitments today. We have to recognize the impact education has on economic growth and prosperity as a nation and the critical role teachers play in it.
Unesco estimates that 69 million new teachers are needed to get all out-of-school children into classrooms by 2030 [pdf]. Are we motivating teachers today to motivate others to venture into the profession?
Teachers as educators have and continue to enlighten and let us all so we can meet our life long aspirations, career goals towards better high-quality life.
The Education Commission (1964-66) has emphatically opined that “The quality and competence and character of teachers to be the most significant factor influencing the quality of education and its contribution to national development.”
Come to think of it, which nation can develop, realize its ambitions without teachers imparting knowledge, skills, and linguistic skills in the individual?
If we can begin to see the teacher as the all-important individual who dedicates his life to mould many dreams, lives and professionals and we manpower them, we will begin to appreciate them than we are doing as a nation.
All the great men and women of this nation were educated, informed, enlightened, and inspired by their teachers.
Knowledge from the teacher, in formal and informal education certain, the perseverance of the educator, and the sacrifices made have helped create great men out of nothing and turned students into skilled individuals our nation needs.
Teachers continue to be involved in the molding business as they influence not only the character but also the individual personality and provide the all-important direction which leads learners to their final destination in life and careers.
It is time for the Ghanaian government and all governments in Africa to treat with respect every teacher irrespective of his or her qualification.
Let us place premium value on teachers and their efforts that have ensured that professionals, enlightened minds, and useful citizens are fed into the world of work with diverse skills and knowledge every year to continue in the nation-building agenda.
In some instances, teachers have created a bad name for the profession, others have been caught in conducts that are contrary to the ethics of this noble profession and calling. On other occasions, some educators have shown high levels of incompetence and engaged in corrupt practices that have made the other good teachers bow down their heads in shame and disbelief.
A nation with corrupt and ill-equipped teachers is a nation at risk. Ghana does not need corrupt, ill-equipped, and less motivated teachers unless we want to endanger the future character, skill set, and knowledge of the future generation.
Teachers in nation-building need to lead themselves as well by self-regulating their own conducts, choices, and actions to match the demands of the profession to help in building and reshaping the current and next generation.
If teachers in Ghana want to be accorded the respect and rewards due to them, there is a need for teachers to the unit and have a common voice.
They must hold on to the ethics and the code of conduct of the teaching profession at all levels of education.
Political leaders must value educators, thus teachers in nation-building and their efforts. The government must ensure teachers are better paid and the teaching profession is made more attractive.
Old-fashioned policies of the Ghana Education Service must be discarded, teachers’ views must be considered in all policies as well.
Old-fashioned policies such as refusing to promote teachers and recognize their certificates obtained because they did not get approval to upgrade themselves must be replaced with more forward-looking policies especially of the teachers’ effort to upgrade did not prevent him or her from performing the official duties.
The decision or policy that ensures teachers who live the service and want to come back are frustrated must end now.
The use of teachers’ salaries as political tools must be quashed. Teachers are the real agents that help in the development of various skills and competencies, the true heartbeat of the nation, value them now.
Source: Wisdom Hammond | Leadership expert, Educationist and Freelancer
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