Kyebi (E/R), March 23, GNA- The pivotal role of the teacher in the delivery of quality education is unquestionable, Deputy Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Ahmed Baba-Jamal, has said.

Government is therefore offering a grant for any teacher who enrols in the Distance Education Programme.

Mr. Jamal was addressing a grand durbar organised as part of the first Student Representative Council (SRC) week celebration of the Kibi Presbyterian College of Education on Saturday. The week long celebration was organized under the theme; "Quality teacher education for accelerated national development". Mr. Baba Jamal appealed to the students to take advantage of the distance education programme being run by the universities to build their knowledge base after college.

He observed that the level of indiscipline among the youth in recent times was appalling and said: "As student teachers who would be training the future leaders of this nation, I would appeal to you to desist from anti-social acts since they can retard your progress". The East Akim Municipal Director of Education, Mrs. Kate Agyeman-Badu, observed that the theme of the celebration underpinned a simple belief that education is a basic human right and that the development of a nation depends on the quality of teachers it produces. She noted that national development challenges could not be addressed without a critical mass educated, well trained and highly qualified skilled individuals.

Mrs. Agyeman-Badu said the country needs an efficient human resource to create wealth, reduce poverty, promote good governance and raise living standard.

"The bottom line is that we need educated people with the requisite technical knowledge and skills to transform our abundant resources into economic goods that can be sold for competitive prices", she stressed. Mrs. Agyeman-Badu also observed that the well-being of a nation depends greatly on qualified, dedication and effectiveness of teachers, therefore teachers need to be empowered to contribute effectively to national development.

"A frustrated or ill-motivated teacher in the classroom is a virus in the knowledge dissemination chain", she added. The East Akim Municipal Chief Executive, Mr. Simon P. Asirifi, called on student teachers to adopt methods to make their lessons interesting and memorable for students adding, poor teaching strategies drive students to hate certain subjects.

The Principal of the college, Rev. Emmanuel Y. Omenako, urged students to work very hard to meet the developmental agenda of tertiary education. The SRC President, Mr Daniel Akorli, appealed to government to increase their allowance adding, "even though their feeding fee has been increased, their allowance was still the same which made life on campus very difficult. 23 March 10