52 Teachers honoured - at this year’s Teachers Awards ceremony
This year's National Best Teacher Awards ceremony saw a complete departure from the status quo in which an individual was adjudged the overall national best teacher for the year.
It was a completely new arrangement to honour best teachers in basic and second cycle schools across the country.
This year's awards saw teachers from the Kindergarten (KG), primary, junior high (JHSs) and senior high schools (SHSs) honoured at a colourful durbar held at the Jubilee Park in Tamale on Monday.
The theme of the occasion was: " Empowering Teachers, Building Sustainable Societies".
Another novelty of this year's awards was the introduction of the National Best School Awards for best schools from the KG, Primary, JHS and SHS from the 10 regions.
In addition to the best schools award, schools which improved at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and the West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and the best performing schools in Mathematics and Science at both the JHS and SHS levels were also recognised at the ceremony.
Mixed feelings
However, there were mixed feelings about the change in the award process.
While majority of the teachers at the ceremony who spoke to the Daily Graphic welcomed the new arrangement, others were not happy with the maiden National Best School Awards.
Those who were happy with the new arrangement said now many hard-working teachers stood the chance of being recognised as compared to the previous arrangement in which a single individual was adjudged the overall national best teacher.
"Now hard-working teachers in remote and deprived communities, who otherwise would not have been recognised, can also be encouraged to work harder. The prizes that would have been given the overall national best teacher have now been spread to cover all the national level best teacher categories which would go a long way to motivate teachers across the country," they stated.
Those who expressed concerns about the maiden edition of the national best school awards were of the view that schools that were honoured in those categories should have been given some tangible items such as computers and refrigerators as prizes instead of the mere handshake.
They described the handshake as unacceptable and a disincentive, saying “we thought we were coming to receive some tangible items as prizes to go and show them to our schools only for us to come this far to receive a "dry handshake".
" What are we going to show to our schools as an award? "they asked.
They,therefore, appealed to the organisers of the awards scheme to reconsider their plan for the National Best School Awards category.
Awardees and prizes
In all, 412 awardees, comprising 52 individuals and 360 schools from the KG, Primary, JHS and SHS levels were honoured.
The awardees were honoured in 13 categories. The categories are in the KG, Primary, JHS, SHS, Basic School Science/Mathematics, Second Cycle Science/Mathematics, non-teaching personnel, Technical/Vocational Subject Teachers, Special Education, ICT teachers, French teachers and HIV/AIDS Alert Model Schools.
The first prize package for all the categories received double door refrigerators and LED Television sets, while the second and third for all the categories received a laptop, four-burner gas cooker, cylinder and refrigerators respectively.
Ten national service persons, who were also adjudged the best in the teaching field from each of the regions, received GH¢100 and a home theatre as their prizes, while two foreign volunteers received wall hangings, certificates and citations.
Ms Rosemary Obeng-Agyei from the Prempeh College M/A KG in the Ashanti Region was ranked first in the KG categories, while Mr Justice Balie Selorm of the Ashiaman No. 4A Primary School in the Greater Accra Region and Mr Christopher Nimfam of the Amanten SDA JHS won the first positions for the Primary and JHS categories respectively.
Other award winners were Saviour Yao Zikpli of the Teiman St James Anglican JHS in the La Nkwantanang/Madina Municipal Assembly in the Greater Accra Region, first position for the Basic School Science and Mathematics category, while Gilbert Biney from the Nyarkrom SHS in the Central Region was first in the Second Cycle Institution Science and Mathematics category.
Music and cultural performance
The ceremony was spiced with music, poetry recital and cultural display from the Ghana SHS band in Tamale, Tamale SHS and some patriotic songs from the GNAT Ladies with the GHANASCO school band stealing the show with a rendition of the National Anthem.
Free school uniforms
Some schoolchildren at the ceremony were presented with new school uniforms and sandals under the government's free school uniform and sandals programme.
Dignitaries
The ceremony was attended by a number of teachers , friends and well wishers of the awardees and Vice-President Kwasi Amissah-Arthur, who was the special guest of honour.
Also present were Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and Mr Alex Kyeremeh, who are Deputy Ministers of Education in charge of Tertiary and Pre-tertiary respectively, the Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Muniru Limuna, and his deputy, Alhaji A.B.A Fusieni, the Northern Regional Director of Education, Alhaji Mohammed Haroon, and the Sagnari-Naa, Ambassador Yakubu Abdulai, who chaired the occasion.
