Dompoase (Ash), Aug 16, GNA - Proprietors of private schools have been called upon to encourage their teachers to take advantage of the human resource development programmes of the Ghana Education Service (GES) to improve their skills.

Mrs Augustine Ofosu-Asiedu, a retired Assistant Director of Education, who made the call, noted that it was only when teachers adopted good teaching practices that the interest of pupils in various subjects could be sustained and lead to high performance.

She was speaking at the Open Day of the Animah Memorial Preparatory School at Dompoase, a suburb of Kumasi on Sunday. Mrs Ofosu-Asiedu reminded teachers to have time to prepare and gather materials for effective teaching.

They should also show a high level of discipline and self-control to become good role models to their pupils and students. School children have a lot of confidence in their teachers and the way you carry yourselves could have enormous influence on them, she stated.

She called for effective collaboration between teachers and parents to check indiscipline among school children.

"Let us work together so that these young ones cannot play between our hands".

Mrs Ofosu-Asiedu advised parents to protect and guide their children to spend leisure profitably, saying, "Allowing them to watch films that depict crime, brutality and occultism is not helpful". Mr E I Boateng, headteacher, announced that the school was now set to operate a Junior Secondary School (JSS) from September this year. He appealed to the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) to help furnish and stock the library.

Mr Boateng stressed the commitment of the teachers and urged the parents to play their part to enable the school maintain a high academic standard.

The proprietor, Mr Albert Osei Sarfo, asked parents to discourage their children from travelling outside the country to do menial jobs and to concentrate on their studies.