Tertiary institution tutors now part of Ghana Teacher Prize
The Ghana Teacher Prize (GTP), an award scheme to reward and recognise teachers, has been extended to cover teachers in tertiary institutions.
Hitherto, the awards were only open to teachers and non-teaching staff in the pre-tertiary level institutions.
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The Registrar of the National Teaching Council (NTC), Dr Christian Addai-Poku, said from next year, teachers in colleges of education would be part of the awards, while those in other tertiary institutions would be brought on board in subsequent years.
At a ceremony to appreciate sponsors of the GTP, Dr Addai-Poku said the need to include teachers at all levels in the awards scheme was suggested by the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, which the NTC as organisers of the awards decided to implement.
“It is a teacher prize. A teacher at any level is still a teacher. Lecturers at the universities and tutors at the colleges are all teachers no matter what they are called. We, therefore, have to appreciate and reward them for their efforts,” he said.
Sponsors’ appreciation
The sponsors of the GTP who were recognised at the sponsors’ appreciation event included the GES Occupational Pensions Scheme, the title sponsor; Glico Pensions, Prudential Bank Limited, SIC Life Limited, Databank, Global Institute of Resource Development Limited, Investcorp, UNESCO, UNICEF and Petra Trust.
Others were the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU), Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), IC Giving, Abe Ventures Limited, Innolink Security and Confidential Print, Right to Play and the Multimedia Group Limited.
GTP
Giving a history of the awards, Dr Addai-Poku said the Best Teacher Awards, the former name of the GTP, was saddled with many challenges, including inadequate funding, which meant award winners had to sometimes wait for many months to receive their prizes.
He said in 2018, the Ministry of Education mandated the NTC to organise the awards and since then, the NTC had rebranded the awards and attracted many sponsors.
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“The organisation has always been par excellence, the branding has been so beautiful and the awards have improved significantly. For instance, the first prize has moved from GH¢100,000 to GH¢300,000 plus an educational trip abroad and a full scholarship for further studies,” he said.
According to him, the successes of the GTP would not have been possible without the immense support of the sponsors who had continuously shown commitment to the awards even in the face of economic difficulties.
“Our sponsors, you have been the secret behind our success. We value so much our long-standing professional relationship,” he said.
Celebration of teachers
A Deputy Minister of Education, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, said education was the catalyst for development and, therefore, it was for that reason that the government had made it a priority agenda with massive investments.
Teachers, he said, must be celebrated and motivated because they were the most important stakeholders in education and a critical component of national development.
For his part, the Board Chairman of NTC, Anis Haffer, said teachers must be supported to not only build their capacities to teach but to also become conversant with Information and Communications Technology (ICT) tools to improve their teaching.
Writer’s email: emma.hawkson@graphic.com.gh