Amedzofe, May 15, GNA - Mr Victor Kofi Mantey, Director of the Teacher Education Division of the Ghana Education Service (GES), has urged officials of the Service to handle newly trained teachers with utmost courtesy when they call to transact official businesses.

He said that posture would engender a sense of belonging in the young teachers and motivate them to work hard. Mr Mantey was addressing the second congregation of the Evangelical Presbyterian College of Education, (AMECO) at Amedzofe on Thursday. He called on local government bodies to help provide some of the essential needs of the educational sector such as accommodation and incentive packages for teachers. Mr Mantey urged the new teachers to disabuse their minds of the negative perceptions of teaching as of a low grade profession and abandoning it for other fields.

He said teaching as a career could be exciting and rewarding. Mr Mantey, therefore, urged the new teachers to demonstrate responsibility and to be role models for younger people in communities where they teach. Mr Joseph Amenowede, Volta Regional Minister, said the infrastructure needs of the College were being addressed by government systematically through the GETFUND. He said government was also tackling the remuneration and other conditions of service of teachers to facilitate their recruitment and retention. Mr Amenowode urged the newly trained teachers, many of whom had been posted to the rural areas, to bring standards there at par with those in the big towns.

He observed that a good and successful teacher was "one who is demonstrably competent, socially acceptable and morally high esteemed". Mr John Dickson Koka, Principal of the College, asked for help to recruit qualified administrative and support staff such as Librarians, Accountants, Procurement Officers, Internal Auditors, Estate and Transport Officers.

He also asked for the provision of an administrative block, modern lecture theatres and ICT laboratories and equipment. Mr Koka said the College which was established 63 years ago, had a current student population of 539, and had overcome the problem of low enrolment of students in the recent past because of improved accessibility to Amedzofe. A total of 114 students graduated with Diplomas in basic education awarded by the Institute of Education of the University of Cape Coast. 15 May 10