Ajumako (C/R), March 17, GNA - Regional and district coordinators of the national best teachers' awards scheme, on Tuesday objected to calls by private schools that the scheme be extended to cover their teachers.

They pointed out that the scheme was a "strategy" to boost the moral of public school teachers to enable them to give of their best and to raise the falling standards of education in the country. The coordinators, drawn from the Volta, Greater Accra, Central and Western regions, raised the objection during an open forum at the opening of a four-day workshop at the Ghana Education Development Institute (GEDSI) at Ajumako.

The workshop was to discuss the selection criteria, process, scoring and timing for the submission of winners from the districts to the GES headquarters to ensure uniformity.

Opening the workshop, the acting national coordinator of the scheme, Mr Fabian Belieba, said the award scheme needed to be reviewed and asked participants to make suggestions towards it. Mrs Hienne Obeng, director of the GESDI, stressed the need for more education about the scheme in order to ensure that those to be assessed know exactly what is expected of them.

She suggested that communities within the catchment areas of nominees for the scheme should participate in the selection, adding that selection should not solely be based on their classroom performance in the classroom or on unbroken years of service.