The Brong Ahafo and Upper East regions have emerged the regions with the best teacher punctuality at the pre-tertiary level in the country.

Per a Ghana Education Service survey of 1,456 schools in 156 districts, the two regions recorded the lowest teacher absenteeism with just two per cent as against the national figure of seven per cent for 2016.

A Deputy Minister of Education in charge of pre- tertiary institutions Alex Kyeremeh revealed this to 3FM Tuesday said teacher absenteeism has decreased in the last year from nine percent to seven percent this year.

At a stakeholder workshop on teacher absenteeism in Accra, the minister attributed the gradual reduction to the stringent measures that was put in place by the government with the health of teacher unions and other stakeholders. “We met with teacher absenteeism as high as 27 per cent and so it was a canker and we thought it was seriously unacceptable,” he said.

Mr Kyeremeh noted that the situation affected the quality of education in the country thus prompting government to find a solution to it by declaring a zero tolerance to absenteeism.

“We appealed to the teacher unions and they helped. We also worked with the district and municipal and metropolitan district assemblies and now we have moved from 27 per cent to 19 per cent to 12 per cent to 9 per cent and to 7 per cent, he said.

In July 2013, the National Inspectorate Board NIB of the Ghana Education Service identified teacher absenteeism as a major threat to the quality of education in the country.

Mr Kyeremeh also revealed the Education Ministry is planning to mobilise motorbikes among other benefits, for the best teachers who exhibit punctuality in class as a way of motivating them.