Why this is so, I'm sure it is a puzzle for us all. But it ceases to be a puzzle the moment we confront the issues and stop the excuses.
In Ghana, the teacher is expected to teach and raise the future leader. Nobody cares about the tools he or she needs to perform those tools. So what is the use of a farmer without her or his farming tools? In times past, parents sent gifts (including foodstuffs) to teachers in the schools. Today, we all see things differently and sadly so to our disadvantage.
The governments (I know Dr. Kwame Nkrumah did better with teachers and even went to the extent of establishing a university college just for the training of teachers) over the years have been disappointment in looking out for the teacher. Instead of things getting better, it is rather getting worse. Records available show that a large chunk of teachers who leave the classroom to go and further their education, say at the university, do not return to the service. Those teachers who take the study leave (this group receive some funds from the Education Service) return to the classroom only to leave again within 3 years never to return. What accounts for this?
Take a quick glance at the kind of service offered to teachers. It is simply poor and they have complained. We want teachers take up duties in rural Ghana, and yet there no package serving as an incentive. I had an interview with 4 teachers who are now studying for a degree at the University of Ghana. I asked them if they will return to the classroom after their studies. The response from one of the teachers was revealing "I graduated with colleagues who a year or two later have acquired a house or apartment and are leaving good. How am I supposed to stay teaching and remain poor? That my friend works in a bank and the other is an accountant!"
He has a point. All the teachers told me they will leave the teaching service after a year or two unless things improve.
Now the National Association of Graduate Teachers has proceeded on strike action. I support them in a way simply because it appears those government officials understand nothing aside strikes and suffering on a mass scale. They are so absurd. A bunch of western educated elite who cannot make a decision just because they are education. Their very education has become their misery. The Ghana Education Service, ministry of education and the executive should organise themselves and come up with solutions to solve the problem. One Ghana Cedi for an allowance indeed!!
