Cape Coast GNAT holds quadrennial delegates conference

A professor with the Institute for Educational Planning and Administration (IEPA) of the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Professor Michael Amakyi, has said the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) must provide teachers with an environment of respect, prioritising the welfare of teachers across the country for enhanced output.

He said the toxicity that could arise from poor teacher motivation could infiltrate a whole school community and potentially cause great damage to teaching and learning.

He further stated that unmotivated teachers disengage from their peers and students' work and withhold themselves from giving their all.

Prof. Amakyi was speaking at the 54th quadrennial delegates conference of the GNAT-Cape Coast Metropolis branch.

It was on the theme: "The Ghana Education Service at 50: Achievements, Teacher Motivation, Challenges and the Way Forward".

Prof. Amakyi said conversely well-motivated teachers provided an exciting learning environment and positively affected those around them.

He said motivation must be targeted at enhancing effective teaching practices, teacher psychological fulfilment and well-being.

Infrastructure

Prof. Amakyi urged GNAT to, among others, seek to impress on the government to improve infrastructure in schools and provide learning materials, in addition to enhancing the welfare of teachers.

He urged GNAT to cultivate an environment of respect for teachers and assist them in building self-efficacy through professional development.

He said GNAT must ensure teacher empowerment to ensure improved negotiations with the government, and to provide teachers with the necessary resources and better working conditions.

Prof. Amakyi stated that the GES had been steadfast in ensuring the implementation of policies that would facilitate effective teaching and learning and produce manpower for the country.

He said the GES had also worked to implement policies effectively leading to an increase in enrolment at all levels and also gender parity.

However, he said these could not have been achieved without the support and commitment of teachers.

The outgoing GNAT Chairman for Cape Coast, Isaac Asante Frimpong, in his address to the media, charged the incoming GNAT Executives not to relent in continuing the good work of the association in the metropolis.

He pledged his support for the new GNAT executives to ensure the association continued to work towards the well-being of teachers.

The officer in charge of Strategy Development at the GNAT headquarters, Nicholas Taylor, said GNAT would ensure teachers were put on the right ranks with the appropriate conditions of service.

He urged teachers to ensure that they stuck to the ethics of the profession to keep the profession noble, saying GNAT would continue to ensure that the government bettered the conditions of service for all teachers, particularly those in the rural areas.

The Metropolitan Director of Education, Phyllis Asante Krobea, commended teachers for their dedication to the implementation of educational policies.