: IF YOU CAN READ THIS, THANK A TEACHER!

By Joe Kingsley Eyiah, Teacher, OCT, Brookview Middle School, Toronto-Canada

“Most of us end up with no more than five or six people who remember us. Teachers have thousands of people who remember them for the rest of their lives.” — Andy Rooney

October 5th is World Teachers' Day. Teachers in the member states of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization celebrate the day the world over. The ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers was adopted on 5 October 1966 at a special intergovernmental conference Convened by UNESCO in Paris in cooperation with the ILO. The convention sets forth the rights and responsibilities of teachers, and international standards for their initial preparation and further education, recruitment, employment, teaching and learning conditions. Since then the work of teachers around the world is recognized each year exactly on October 5. I remember the car sticker in Ghana during the 1980s which read: IF YOU CAN READ THIS, THANK A TEACHER. How true! It is very true that we all remember moments when an inspiring teacher opened our eyes to something wonderful. Moments like those are happening every day in our schools. As a lifelong teacher, I can testify to this.

Ghana like many other countries around the world has, over the years, sought to improve its education system by introducing reforms and making projections based on the education needs of the country. How sincere are these reforms to making the teacher more effective in the delivery of knowledge to students in the classroom? Are teachers well prepared and taken good care of by governments around the world to ensure good learning outcomes in our schools?

World Teachers’ Day message issued in 2007 states, "The challenge is more than one of numbers. The quality of teachers and teaching is also essential to good learning outcomes. This implies an education system that attracts and retains a well-trained, motivated, effective and gender-balanced teaching staff; it implies a system that supports teachers in the classroom, as well as in their continued professional development. Dissatisfaction with loss in status, low salaries, poor teaching and learning conditions, and lack of career progression or adequate professional training has driven large numbers of teachers out of the profession, sometimes after only a few years of service.”

Teachers must be the pivot for ensuring successful learning process sought after in any education reform. They are expected to bring equality learning experiences to the students they (teachers) teach. Unfortunately, teachers in Ghana are often thought of less when education reforms are put in place. Unlike, teachers in Canada who have formidable unions to fight for their rights and seek better deals with their governments as I have come to know, teachers in Ghana have weak associations which fight more among themselves than against ‘uncaring’ government educational policies which down play teachers interest and at the same time up load their responsibilities.

It is suggested that more recruitment, full and appropriate teacher training, better targeted deployment and management, salary and incentives which compare favorably with those in other occupations requiring similar qualifications, better working and living conditions, ongoing professional support and opportunities for career development are all crucial to meet the new challenges that face education everywhere.

We should all be reminded that teaching is a noble profession. From the days of Socrates to the time of Paul of the Bible students/graduates had spoken highly of their teachers (also called masters in some instances). Teachers make the medical doctors, the lawyers, the accountants, the engineers, the agriculturists, the musicians, the pastors, the politicians, the nurses, the computer analysts and many other workers who contribute effectively to the building of a nation anywhere. They are working hard both inside and outside the classroom to help students realize their (students) for the future. Teachers implement the curriculum in the school in the face of numerous challenges. They in-service themselves periodic to be abreast with modern technology which could make learning easy for their students. They even plan and implement Individual Education Program (IEP) for students who achieving far below the grade level and are identified for help with their (students’) parental consent. Education has been the major facilitator and catalyst in the astonishing changes and transformation sweeping through the world today. The role of formal (school) education in the liberation of the individual mind as well as economic dependence and in national development is therefore quite obvious. Thus, education pays off not only in literacy but also in income!

It is therefore quite obvious that education is very imperative to the sound development of individuals and nations. Every country ought to provide its people with qualitative and “not only quantitative” education! And every parent ought to ensure that his or her child gets the best of formal education as much as possible.

Undoubtedly, education is the biggest enterprise in any civilized society. Teachers play an important role in this enterprise. Their training, distribution and maintenance as professionals anywhere must be given serious attention. Together we must fight to give our children everywhere the education they need. Knowledge is Power, but ignorance is a disease. And teachers who are the facilitators of learning, which is the process of acquiring knowledge at school deserve better!

HAPPY TEACHERS’ DAY