Accept posting for sake of children - Prestea-Heman chief appeals to teachers

The Divisional Chief for the Prestea-Heman Traditional Area in the Prestea Huni-Valley Municipality of the Western Region, Nana Nteboa Pra IV, has entreated teachers to accept posting to rural communities for the sake of the future of the children.

He said considering the importance of education, the Prestea-Heman Traditional Area under his leadership remained committed to the promotion of education in the municipality through the development of children and support for teachers posted to the area.

He added that to improve education and achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4), which focused on education and aimed to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education, as well as promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, there was the need to do more to support.

At the finals of the maiden edition of the Beyeman Quiz Competition in the traditional area, Nana Pra said several studies had shown that good educational infrastructure and the motivation of teachers encouraged attendance and also allowed teachers to deliver without difficulty.

Traditional council

He said even though the condition of the pupils in the deprived community was not the best, the traditional council was not going to look on unconcerned.

“We are doing the little we can to help; hence, the need to accept posting to the community while we continue with the support,” he stated.

He said to achieve SDG 4, there was the need for all stakeholders to note that teachers were important “because they change lives, inspire dreams of our children, and push the limits of human potential for social, economic and national development”.

He called on all stakeholders in the area to come on board to provide teaching and learning materials for the schools, as well as support the traditional area to institute a teacher's award scheme, among others.

“We will continue to do our bit at the community levels through programmes such as educational workshops or clinics to encourage all stakeholders – companies and individuals, among others, to help us inch towards perfection,” he said.  

Main challenge

For his part, the Prestea Huni Valley Municipal Director of Education, Sabastian Akyerema Daiw, said inadequate teachers in the rural parts of the municipality remained its main challenge.

He said there were many schools in the municipality without teachers – “communities such as Pewude, Subri-Nkwanta and Subri, among many others, do not have teachers and it is not the best if we want to improve our performance”.

“Teachers posted to the community are all in the urban part of the municipality, they are not willing to go to the rural part of the municipality due to the conditions of service,” he said.

He said as an interim measure, the education directorate was planning to meet traditional leaders with the support from the divisional chief, to identify community teachers who could help the children while the directorate worked to get teachers to the areas that had need.

“Let me also appeal to members of the community and parents who can read and write to pay a little attention to the children when they return from school to study to help improve the situation,” Mr Daiw said.