President Promises Secured Retirement for Teachers

By Maxwell Ofori.

The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has indicated his commitment in ensuring that teachers are well motivated to do their jobs. He has also promised to work to ensure a more secured retirement for them.

The President gave the assurance at the 2nd Session of the 21st Congregation Ceremony of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), which was held over the weekend.

According to President Akufo-Addo, his administration would deploy resources to provide quality education from quality teachers in a quality educational system.

"Accordingly, government intends to facilitate teacher training nationwide, as well as special incentives for them, such as support for teachers to acquire their own homes, in collaboration with the Ghana National Association of Teachers, NAGRAT, and other teachers' associations to facilitate an affordable housing scheme for teachers.

"We will also support teachers to enroll in Distance Education programmes to boost their capacity," he said.

This, he explained, was in line with his Government's policy of motivating teachers and rewarding their hard work in the classroom.

According to him, it is for this reason that government, from September, would re-introduce the teacher training allowance that was cancelled by the previous government.

"As a policy, my government is going to partner and support UEW, as well as all the other public Universities in the country, with the aim of raising and improving standards, so as to be able to compete with the best on the continent," he noted.

To this end, the President was confident that the education the graduands had received would put them on a sound footing to confront the challenges of this world, charging that Ghanaian Universities should be ranked amongst the top 10 on the continent.

"This is not beyond us to achieve, and my government will ensure that universities are equipped with the requisite logistics and guarantee that lecturers are well motivated to achieve this feat," he said.

The President spoke about challenges of the world, especially after university, whilst encouraging the graduands that: "One thing I know, perhaps, better than anybody in Ghana at the moment, is that no challenge is too great to surmount. The Bible tells us in Galatians that: "We will reap a harvest if we do not give up," he added.

Research and innovation will be at the heart of education in Ghana. This would ensure that our graduates from our educational institutions enter the labour market, well-equipped with skills for good-paying jobs, the President remarked.

He noted that the issue about jobs was a "widely recognised fact that, in order to create the hundreds of thousands of jobs needed by graduates from our tertiary, technical, vocational and senior high schools, our country must move from being an economy dependent on the export of raw materials to an economy of value-addition.

"We must process the natural resources we have to enable us reap higher benefits. It is with this aim of transforming our economy that my government is determined to partner the private sector to set up strategic industries to help create jobs for our youth.

"These include, but not limited to, an iron and steel industry, which will exploit the iron ore deposits at Oppon Manso and Sheini, near Tamale, and facilitate the manufacture of machine parts and equipment; an integrated aluminium industry, which will exploit the bauxite deposits at Kyebi and Nyinahin; petrochemical industries from oil and gas deposits from the Jubilee, TEN and Sankofa fields and vehicle assembly plants.

"We must overcome the challenge of banishing illiteracy in our country. We must produce a well-educated, well trained populace, capable of functioning effectively as economic actors in a growth oriented, modernized and industrialised society.

"We must begin demonstrating our common commitment to the education of our children by respecting teachers. We cannot value education for our children and yet disrespect the teachers who teach them.

"I am committed to ensuring that teachers get better pay, better working conditions, a more secure retirement and the respect of their fellow citizens," he observed.

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