The Wassa-East District Assembly has honoured 17 teaching and non-teaching staff and other stakeholders at the education directorate for their meritorious services to raise the standard of education in the district.

The awards ceremony, which has become an annual ritual through the instrumentality of the District Chief Executive, Mr Wilson Arthur is to among other things, reward excellence and boost performances of stakeholders especially the teaching staff to put in their maximum to achieve proven results.

This year's awards ceremony, which was on the theme,'The Young Teacher: Future of the Teaching Profession', was sponsored by the Wassa-East District Assembly(WEDA) with support from Golden Star Mines, Skyy Power and the Ghana Investment Fund Electronic Communications(GIFEC).

Madam Rebecca Abamba Quainoo of the S.I.P.L./SOCFINAF D/A school, was adjudged the best Kindergarten(KG) teacher award with a double-decker fridge plus other beauty products.

The best Primary teacher award of double-decker fridge plus beauty products, went to madam Matilda Amoah of the St. Martin’s Anglican Primary.

Mr.Theophilus Baah Biney of the S.I.P.L/SOCFINAF JHS took home the best JHS teacher award with a flat-screen Television (TV).

The best headteacher in the primary division, went to Mr Ebenezer Baah of Sekyere-Krobo D/A Primary, who took home a laptop, while Mr.John Kwaboh of the Sekyere-Obuase D/A JHS was crowned the best JHS teacher and also took home a laptop.

The best Circuit Supervisor award for Sekyere-Krobo went to Mr.Stephen Afful, who also took home a laptop, while Mr.Shadrack Ananse at the District Education Service, won the best worker award and received a double-decker as his award.

The best in ICT award category was scooped by Nana Yaa Kwartmah of Senchem D/A basic school who received a laptop and beauty products. Messrs Shadrack Yalley, Alex Afful, Isaac Botchwey and Monica Yankey have adjudged the most dedicated teachers and took home a gas stove cylinders and a solar panel each.

The best School Management Committee and PTA personality received a tablet with four other front line Assistant Directors received a tablet each. The District Director of Education, Mrs Ernestina Winful also received a laptop as an award.

In an address, the CEO of GIFEC, Mr Kofi Asante who was the Special Guest of Honour said teachers played critical roles in national development as they built the foundation for the human resource base.

He said globalisation positioned children in a competitive world and they could not be left out in the digital agenda.

He advised school children to take advantage of ICT innovation.

The Government, he said made strides in ICT adding that between 2017 and 2018, a total of 400 rural sites were created in the country, of which Wassa-East was a beneficiary.

He said his outfit trained not less than 2,000 teachers and 90,000 children within one and a half years.

Mr Asante said his outfit would partner other sister organizations to improve on the quality of education in line with the Sustainable Development Goal 4 and asked Ghanaians to support ICT to accelerate development through digital transformation

The District Chief Executive (DCE) Mr Wilson Arthur noted that the number of children who qualified to access secondary education improved tremendously from five(5) on assumption of office, adding that there was no future for a District, where children could not access secondary education.

Currently, the average intake of students who qualify to enter secondary school is between 145 and 500 and lauded the government for the free SHS programme.

Mr.Arthur said ICT was the only way to bridge the gap in contemporary education and commended Mr.Kofi Asante for the initiative.

Mr.Arthur said human capacity development was core in Wassa-East, hence the teeming youth graduating from the Aseda Foundation would be equipped with skills training.

He advised parents to play their roles since teaching and learning could not take place without their support.

The District Director of Education, Mrs.Ernestina Winful urged them to go the extra mile to raise the standard of education in the area despite the challenges confronting them.

She reminded teachers of the critical role they played especially with the implementation and success of the new curriculum and ICT and appealed to chiefs and opinion leaders to create a favourable environment for teachers posted to the communities to stay.

She asked the teachers to re-double their efforts to attain a hundred per cent performance in the BECE next year.

The Director thanked GIFEC for donating the laptops to the awardees.