Editorial: The Woes of the Ghanaian Teacher

OCTOBER 5 was World Teachers' Day, and all over the globe teachers celebrated the occasion with the accolade the day deserves.

In Ghana however, the day could not be given that great compliment because the teachers, whose day it was, are at war with the authorities having laid down their chalks. Presently, the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Ghana Education Service (GES) are at loggerheads, with NAGRAT swearing never to end their strike action until their grievances are met, while the GES has also vowed never to have any negotiations with NAGRAT.

Currently, Members of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) have also threatened to sack their National Executives for failing to help improve their conditions of service; while in some Regions, the members have started boycotting classes to force their National Executives out of office.

One should also not forget the Polytechnic lecturers, who are also at war with the state educational authorities.

With this kind of turbulence there is no doubt that our teachers do not have the necessary peace of mind to celebrate World Teachers Day.

In fact, the teaching profession is a noble one. By now, all must be aware that ignorance is never bliss as some say; for what you don't know can easily kill you. And no one could get out of ignorance without passing through the hands of a teacher; it is the teacher who in actual fact moulds the child.

So why should society, which had enormously gained from the teacher, make the teacher suffer and wish to abandon the classroom?

Society has demeaned the teaching profession to the extent that it is being described as the harbinger to poverty and this is really sad. Some parents who are very learned are today forbidding their children from entering into the teaching profession because the profession is, according to them, a disaster and a road to poverty.

But the truth is that we need the teacher before we can produce either the doctor, nurse, accountant, journalist or other members of other professions. We should give recognition to the teaching profession and resource those who have decided to carry that responsibility of teaching to enable them feel comfortable like other professionals in other professions.

World Teachers Day is to remind us all about the significance of the status of the teacher and to reflect, evaluate and plan for the future. But this is where the fallacy lies, for how can the teacher reflect, evaluate and plan for the future if his profession does not guarantee him the future?

It saddens this paper that the teaching profession in the country is currently divided, with our children not being taught, and in some cases even sent home from school.

This situation now calls for a presidential intervention to save the country from the present trend within the teaching profession.

Government should not sit idle to watch the deterioration of its gains as far as enhancing quality education in the country is concerned.

We have to give the teaching profession the respect it deserves, but unfortunately this is not so in Kwame Nkrumah's Ghana.

The teachers themselves must also help make the profession attractive to entice others to follow their footsteps by presenting a united front.

As we salute our gallant teachers for the role they have played and continue to play, this paper wishes to re-echo the wise words of Mr. T.A. Bediako, one-time General Secretary of GNAT, that NAGRAT and GNAT should speak with one voice on the economy, the welfare of teachers and on professional issues affecting teachers for the betterment of the teaching profession as a whole.

The Chronicle doffs its hat to teachers in general and wishes them a belated happy anniversary.