GNAT urges GES to provide logistics for new curriculum implementation

The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has urged the Ghana Education Service (GES) to make sure teachers get appropriate logistics to facilitate implementation of the new standard-based curriculum introduced into public basic schools.

It said teachers across the 260 districts nationwide had been trained on the curriculum introduced this academic year and would, therefore, require appropriate logistics to ensure its successful implementation.

The fresh curriculum centres on strengthening reading, writing, arithmetic and creativity as foundational skills for life-long learning by children in the lower and upper primaries as against the old objective-based curriculum, which some education experts say encouraged rote learning without emphasis on skills training.

“We are aware our teachers have gone through the curriculum training and it has been rolled out but we are calling on government to make sure that all the necessary teaching and learning materials are brought and equitably distributed,” the Upper West Regional Secretary of GNAT, Mr Kwame Dagbandow, said.

“But not only being brought, but brought in good time so that we can ensure effective and efficient implementation of the standard-based curriculum,” he said.

At the World Teachers Day celebration in Wa at the weekend, Mr Dagbandow called for motivation of teachers and provision of the necessary logistics to facilitate teaching and learning adding that their activities and interests must be considered top priorities.

The Day was to deliberate on the status of the teacher relating to training and policy issues, on the theme: “Young Teachers – The Future of the Profession”.

It was effected upon the signing of United Nations Education, Science and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and International Labour Organisation’s recommendation in 1966 to appreciate the contributions of teachers worldwide to national economies, which Ghana adopted it in 1994.

“If we say we want to develop this nation and we don’t take keen interest in the activities of the teacher then our quest to develop this nation will be a mirage,” Mr Dagbandow said.

He assured teachers of the leadership’s commitment to advance their welfare and interest – including working to address issues of promotions and salary arrears.

Mr Saaka Adams, the Regional Trustee, Teachers Fund and Principal of Wa Technical Institute, assured teachers that their contributions were being put in safe investments and that as at June 2019, it had yielded GHc1.42 billion.

He said the Fund, which was 100 per cent owned by teachers, was being managed by accountants, lawyers, and investors among others.

He encouraged contributors to increase their monthly contributions from the basic level to the optimum to serve as retirement package for members in addition to their Social Security and National Insurance Trust and tier two contributions.