Editorial by Ghanaian Times: Time to prioritise safety of teachers, school children in island communities

The Ghana Nation­al Association of Teachers, (GNAT) at the beginning of the week began an ambitious campaign of equipping its members in island com­munities with life jackets to save their lives in the event of boat disasters.

They also called on the Ghana Education Service to provide mandatory swimming tutorials for teachers posted to island communities.

The association believes that will be an effective intervention for teachers to save their lives in the event of boat disasters and sustain the human resource base of the teachers’ front.

The leadership of Gha­na’s largest teacher union began the campaign at a ceremony at Kudorkope in the Krachie East District of the Oti Region, where they presented some life jackets to its members.

The presentation is against the backdrop of five separate incidents of boat disasters that killed more than 20 people in­cluding teachers and pupils in the first half of the year.

The deaths were recorded at Faana in the Ga South Municipality, Kete Krachi and Atigagorme in the Sene East District, all island communities that have re­corded tragic boat incidents this year.

Indeed, what is common about these island com­munities is that they all use canoes which are the only means by which residents commute from one village to the other.

Unfortunately, factors in­cluding excessive overload­ing of passenger canoes, life-jackets, natural causes and other forms of human errors continue to pose threats to marine commut­ers on islands.

The situation appears to be dire in the Krachi East and West districts of the Oti Region, as teachers and pupils risk commuting on the Oti River to attend school each day on another island amidst bad climatic conditions.

It is important to note that the Krachi West Dis­trict alone has 46 island set­tlements but only 21 have schools in which trained teachers have been posted.

It is to prevent the death of its members resulting from boat disasters and as part of its welfare package that the association has been supporting its mem­bers on the islands with life jackets.

The initiative is not only important but also timely in saving the lives of teachers and school children in the island communities.

While commending the efforts of GNAT in responding to the needs of its members, we support the call by the association on the Ghana Education Service (GES) to equip teachers in the island com­munities with swimming skills so that they can help themselves during boat accidents.

Perhaps, one of the saf­est ways to save lives in the long term is for the GES to procure the services of the Navy to offer extensive swimming tutorials to new­ly trained teachers whose services are required on the islands. In that way, they would provide their service without fear.