Devote yourselves to the profession: Most Rev. Bonsu tells teachers

The President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference (GCBC), Most Reverend Joseph Osei Bonsu, has called on teachers to devote themselves to the profession and see their work as a vocation or a ministry.

He said for the country to achieve quality education, teachers must realise that they held the future of their students in their hands and not to see the teaching profession as a business or chore that must be performed.

Most Rev. Bonsu made the call when he delivered the keynote address at the 23rd Annual Conference of Directors of Education (CODE) in Kumasi. It was on the theme: “Investing in Quality Education for Positive Transformation of our Youth for National Development.”

Lack of commitment 

Most Rev. Bonsu, however, observed that some teachers did not show any commitment and zeal to their work, as “some are simply lazy and do not teach well.’’

He condemned the practice where teachers sold photocopies of their lesson notes to students and victimised those who did not buy them and said that did not augur well for the profession.

Exemplary lives

Most Rev. Bonsu also stressed the need for teachers to lead exemplary lives and serve as role models to the students.

He explained that for teachers to have the moral courage to correct and discipline students, “their conduct must be exemplary. Those who are teachers ought to realise that as teachers they play crucial roles in the formation of the youth.”

To make progress economically and in other areas, he said the country ought to invest heavily in education, in terms of human and material resources in order to provide quality education that would positively transform the youth to enable them to work for the development of the country.

Address challenges

The Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, Mr Jacob Kor, said management was aware of some of the challenges facing the directors of education but was of the view that most of those challenges could be handled at their level.

He tasked the directors to effectively engage all the stakeholders within their jurisdictions to address some of the challenges facing them.