We’ll not teach without curriculum and textbooks again in 2021
Students in class with their teacher
Teachers in Ghana’s basic schools have served a notice to the Ghana Education Service to immediately provide them with curriculum and textbooks to effectively begin the 2020/2021 academic year as basic schools prepare to reopen on Monday, 18th January, 2021.
According to the teachers, Ghana Education Service together with National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) must ensure that relevant teaching and learning materials are provided to schools to begin the new academic year. This, they believe will solve the challenges teachers went through during the 2019/2020 academic year.
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In a press statement, a group of teachers calling themselves Informed Teachers Network led by Jerry Akporhor, the Lead Educator said, they are not ready to condone abnormality that happened to teachers in the past anymore.
They further said, teachers have managed to teach for two terms without curriculum and textbooks. it has not been a nice experience at all, but there were only saved by the Novel Coronavirus pandemic. According to them, though they have welcomed reopening of schools, they are not ready to teach without textbooks and curriculum in 2021.
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Read below the full statement issued by the teachers.
The other day, a senior lecturer in UEW asked, “have you ever seen teachers going on strike or demonstration because there’s no textbook, TLM or other conditions? No! Its always about money?”
A very nice observation indeed. But, GES, NaCCA and MOE should expect a paradigm shift. We are not ready to condone that abnormality anymore.
Asking teachers to go to school and teach without providing them with very curriculum they would use to guide their teaching and no textbook is like sending soldiers to war without providing them weapons and ammunition. No matter the training you give them, they are bound to be defeated.
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Same is happening. You spend so much to research and craft a beautiful curriculum-a standards bases one for that matter but dragging feet in supplying the needed resources to drive it’s implementation. How do You expect to achieve your aim? You can’t pretend not to know the importance of timely supply of textbooks and other teaching and learning materials to the successful implementation.
We have managed two terms without it and it has not been a nice experience at all. We were only saved by Corona. We are not ready to do that again. We are not also ready to accept any more excuses because you have all the school closure periods to get the job done.
Re-opening of our schools is safe; Our children must go to school – Nana Akufo-Addo
To cut a long story short, Do the needful or prepare for a sit down strike. You can’t continue taking us for granted and latter turn around to blame us when the children fail to perform to expectations. Give us the needed tools and equipments, if we fail, we would shoulder the blame professionally. We are ready to serve.
Hon Jerry Akporhor Lead Educator @informedteachersnetwork
SOURCE: Coverghana.com.gh
