GNAT worried about high teacher attrition rate

The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has expressed concern about the high trend of human resource attrition in the teaching profession.

The practice, according to GNAT, could affect the provision of good quality education in the country if not properly addressed.

It called on the Government to put in place measures to improve the teaching and learning conditions, pay teachers legitimate entitlement on time and provide conducive teaching and learning environment to halt the practice.

Madam Gifty Apanbil, GNAT Deputy General Secretary in charge of Education and Professional Development, said many teachers were consonantly leaving the classroom for other offers and even changed to other professions due to the luxury attached to them.

She was speaking at the end of a five-day in-service training course for about 500 selected teachers in the Central Region aimed at deepening their knowledge and understanding of subject contents, leadership and administrative skills to be relevant to the child in the classroom.

The training course was organised by the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) in collaboration with the Canadian Teachers Federation (CTF) under its “GNAT/CTF Nkabom Project Overseas in-service training workshop for teachers.

Participants were taken through courses such as basic administration, primary mathematics and science, special female mathematics and science, Junior High School (JHS) Mathematics, English, Science, French, social studies and JHS basic design and technology among others.

Some of the topics were specifically designed for teachers serving in deprived and underserved areas to improve their teaching skills, creativity and enhance greater community participation in the development of education in their respective communities.

Madam Apanbil urged teachers to give out their best by way of providing quality and inductive education to ensure that public education became a preferred choice for parents to send their children to but not because they did not have money.

She expressed worry about the rate at which dilapidated classroom blocks with ripped off roofs were increasing in the country while the Government showed little concern in rehabilitating them.

She said such dilapidated school buildings were death traps to both teachers and pupils, citing the recent collapse of a KG block at Breman Gyambra in the Central Region which killed six pupils.

Madam Apanbil said that GNAT as a major stakeholder in education in Ghana also believed in the right of every Ghanaian child to have free quality basic education as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution and in the Social Development Goals (SDGs).

She said GNAT as a professional organisation, also believed in continuous education and professional development of its members, hence the training.

Madam Apnabil blamed education managers for doing little to whip up students interest in agricultural sciences in schools though agriculture had the potential of addressing the unemployment issue in the country.

She also bemoaned how subjects such as History, West African Religious Studies, Ghanaian Language, Music and Business have been neglected and called on educational stakeholders to take measures to reverse the situation.

Ms Lindsay Freedman, Team Leader of CTF, commended the participants for the attentiveness during the workshop and asked them to share the knowledge they had acquired with the colleagues.

She said her outfit was committed to working towards a common goal of providing professional development to teachers in Ghana to sustain the achievement of quality education for all.