Proportion of GETFund to be set aside to top up teachers salaries

Kumasi, June 22, GNA - A lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has suggested that a proportion of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) be set aside to top up the salaries of teachers.

Prof Dr Daniel Buor, Provost of the College of Arts and Social Sciences at KNUST, said teachers' salaries needed improvement if national educational goals and objectives were to be achieved. He was speaking on the theme, "Quality Teacher for Quality Educations Teachers Matter" at the Ashanti Regional Best Teacher Awards ceremony in Kumasi.

Seventy teaching and non-teaching personnel selected for 2006, 2007 and 2008 were awarded and presented with items including table top refrigerators, colour television sets and gas cookers. Prof. Buor said laudable educational policies and programmes would not achieve the desired goals without the effective performance of the teacher.

He said whereas the child is the centre of all educational programmes, the teacher is the machinery, which operates to ensure that the child-centred philosophy is actualized. Prof. Bour said college of education should not be the dumping grounds for applicants with poor grades but entry should be by choice and interest other than convenience. He said he was not happy that remuneration due the teacher did not commensurate the immense contribution that he makes to quality education.

Prof. Buor said the 2007 Educational Reforms specified the burden the teacher should bear in ensuring its success but was silent on comprehensive remuneration packages for teachers. He cautioned teachers against acts that tend to undermine the dignity, image and credibility of the teaching profession. Prof. Buor urged society to respect the teaching profession by ensuring adequate compensation and motivation to enable the country to realize its vision.