Bawku (U/E), Feb. 3, GNA - Mr Bukari Shaibu Ibn Abu-Daiyan, Bawku Municipal Secretary for Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), on Thursday called on teachers to be proactive since the better Ghana Agenda begins with the teacher.

Mr Abu-Daiyan said education was the bedrock for national development and there was the need for every teacher to do his or her best to provide quality education for the children.

He asked teachers not to see the teaching profession as a job opportunity but a call to serve the state, saying, 93if this is realized Ghana stands the chance of becoming a world economic giant because she woul= d be able to produce the qualified human resource".

Mr Abu-Daiyan said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) after a day's membership education forum on staff welfare and the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) at the Garu-Tempane District of the Upper East Region. The Secretary, accompanied by the Municipal GNAT Chairman, met with 16= 9 members who include GNAT officials and heads of basic schools. Mr Abu-Daiyan disclosed that the secretariat had instituted a welfare fund that would elevate members from the socio-economic constraint prevailing and help them institute self-projects that would improve their welfare, dignity and prestige.

He told the GNA that the forum was also to educate GNAT members on the grading structure of the SSSS for Ghana Education Service (GES) staff.

Mr Abu-Daiyan indicated that the distortion on the placement of GES staff on the Single Spine had been resolved and that a task force comprisin= g the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, Controller and Accountant General= 's Department, GES Management, GNAT and other teaching bodies had been set up to fast track the migration onto the SSSS. He advised the teachers to seek for higher education that would empowe= r them to render good services to their pupils.