President Jerry John Rawlings ignored his doctor’s warning and spoke for more than 30 minutes at Ho in the Volta Region to award prizes at the 6th Annual National Teacher’s Day.

The President, who recently underwent an operation in Switzaland, admitted that despite medical advice from his doctors, he could not help the situation. No” doubt my doctors would not like me to talk at all” President Rawlings said, but quickly stated that he finds it hard to follow his doctors advice by keeping quiet when it comes to the important role teachers play.

Rawlings said the role of a good teacher was to inspire and awaken curiosity in students as well as strive to be their counsellor and role model. “A true teacher needs more than competence and a responsible attitude to work”, be noted.

But, the President’s speech was overshadowed by the complaints of Mr. Amoo Darko, President of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), who spoke of a “looming thunderstorm” from members dissatisfied by the current Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) Pension Scheme arrangements for teachers.

“It is indeed heart-rending to see an individual who has contributed 30 years of his productive life towards building the nation to be spurned and made to subsist on hand-outs”, he complained.

Amoo Darko noted that it is a wonder that teachers and educational personal achieve results at all, considering the “Very trying conditions” in which they are forced to work. He enumerated low pay and remuneration and a lack of professional training as some of the trying conditions hampering the work of teachers.

But, President Rawlings, who travelled to the event by helicopter, said that teachers, like all government workers, were paid from the same pot. An increase in teachers’ pay would mean a composite reduction in some other area of government expenditure, which could affect the economy, he noted.

Continuing, Amoo Darko noted that among the problems “breeding great discontent” within GNAT’s membership is the issue of supervision and extra duty allowances for teachers, whose working days do not end after eight hours.

Social problems teachers have to compound with, he said, include increase in sex among their students, violence and the fight to combat spread of AIDS. In the classroom, teachers have problems enrolling and retaining girls in classes, which are often over-subscribed and undermanned with few materials and teaching supplies.

He urged that teachers be recognised for their continued sacrifices in the name of the faltering education system. “The time has come, “he said for our government to make the conscious effort to support and allow teachers to perform their legitimate duties without any threat to their survival and professional career.”

The Minister for Education, Mr. Ekow Spio-Garbrah noted that ?1 billion of consumer goods, including bicycles and motorcycles have been given as incentives to teachers in rural areas.

A car and plans to a house to be built in a place of his choice were among the prizes presented to the overall winner of the National Best Teacher Award, Mr. Daniel Tetteh Kwao. He teaches at the Obrachire District Assembly Junior Secondary School at Awutu Obrachire in the Central Region.

Televisions, refrigerators, video decks, first class air tickets and a trip to Japan were among the prizes given to the twenty-one winners of the competition.