Circuit supervisors indulge in malpractices - Research

Cape Coast, Sept. 22, GNA - Some circuit supervisors of Ghana Education Service are allegedly being involved in malpractices to write good reports on the administration of authorities of second cycle institutions.

A research conducted by Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC) said instead of some of them spending a day in monitoring activities in the schools they spend few hours, while others visit their assigned schools once in two years.

Its report was released at a Stakeholders Dissemination Forum on Research Findings on the Capitation Grant and Teacher Deployment in the Central Region at Cape Coast.

It covered 168 schools in 17 districts in six regions. The districts in the Central Region are Cape Coast Municipality, Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) and Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese Districts. The research was geared towards assessing problems associated with the grant, teaching and learning, pupil-teacher ratio, school enrolment and management of the grant. It was jointly undertaken by Dr William Ahadzi, a Lecturer in Sociology, University of Ghana, Legon and Mr Ignatius Obeng, a Lecturer in Social Studies, University of Education, Winneba between mid-December 2005 and February 2006.

Speaking at the forum attended by teachers, district directors of education and the public Dr Ahadzi, whose research dwelt on 'teacher deployment' said the allegations against the supervisors were made by some of the teachers.

He said most of the schools in the deprived areas, were manned by untrained teachers, since most of the qualified teachers refused posting there and those employed were either poached by well endowed schools, qualified teachers especially the women prefer to join their spouses and about 7,000 to 8,000 teachers were required yearly to fill vacancies at the basic school level.

Dr Ahadzi said in addition to the high number of untrained teachers in these areas, there were low teacher-pupil ratio of 53 pupils to a teacher and in some cases a teacher to 73 pupils that did augur well for effective teaching and learning.

He said in spite of the policy to provide each pupil with a textbook, that was not the reality on the ground and teachers had to improvise because of inadequate teaching materials. Dr Ahadzi said some communities complained about lateness, absenteeism and drunkenness by some teachers and suggested that teachers should be paid according to their performance. He said others stressed the need for regular in-service training to upgrade the skills of teachers to facilitate effective teaching and learning.

Nyeenyi Ghartey VII, Omanhene of Efutu Traditional Area, expressed concern about the inadequate number of teachers and called for the establishment of more teacher training colleges. He called for more collaboration between GNECC, stakeholders, communities and teachers to ensure quality education from the basic level.