Navrongo (U/E), Sept 22, GNA - The National Service Scheme (NSS) plans to fill some of the 15,000 teaching vacancies in basic schools nationwide with trained volunteer personnel, Mr Adam Mohammed Amin, Board Member of the NSS has said.

He said if the standard of education, especially in the North was to be improved, there was a great need to have adequate number of teachers in the basic schools to help pupils build a firm foundation in formal education.

Mr Amin was speaking in Navrongo at the end of a training workshop for 62 volunteer teachers made up of retired teachers and graduates from tertiary institutions, at the weekend.

He commended the volunteers for their zeal and patriotism and said it was good that Ghana did not have to depend on only volunteers from abroad to help out in the various institutions.

He said but for logistics more volunteers could have been trained to cover the three Northern Regions, as more people were ready to offer their services.

Mr Raymond Achana, Kassena-Nankana District Director of Education, asked the volunteers to comport themselves and apply what they had learnt in the workshop in the job they would be doing.

He advised them not to expect too much from the National Service Secretariat but to let the spirit of voluntarism guide them in delivering their services.

Mr Achana said the first batch of volunteers, who were trained last year did very well, as testified by the Headmasters of the schools they served, and that 34 of them had offered to stay on and serve for another year.