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Mahama unveils new ‘Teacher Professional Development’ programme

kencitymediagh
Feb 25, 2016
2 min read

President John Mahama has disclosed that government has introduced a Teacher Professional Development programme to train teachers across the country.

The aim of this programme, the president said, is to polish the skills of about 95 percent of teachers at the basic level by 2020.

The President also disclosed that about 10,000 school supplies have been distributed to some schools to be given to teachers trained in Information Communication Technology (ICT).

Over 30,000 teachers are expected to benefit from the initiative.

The president made these revelations during his 2016 address to parliament on the State of the Nation.

He said government has been successful with basic education and although it has been commended by the United Nations for its achievements, “there are still a significant number of school children that are not enrolled in school.

“These children are now being targeted under the compulsory Basic Education programme in the last year. A total of 54,800 of them in four regions in the country have been enrolled in schools.

These are 54,800 who would not have otherwise received an education…their lives will have much different outcomes as a result of this programme,” he added.

The intervention will be topped up with the supply of free uniforms, sandals and test books to basic schools to be distributed to needy children.

So far, 10,000 sandals made in Kumasi have been distributed to some basic schools across the country, the president said.

With the construction of the 200 Community Day Schools in some districts across the country, Mr. Mahama believes that 200,000 new places will be made available in the Senior High School system.

“I can report that 123 are currently being implemented and are at different stages of completion,” he said.

The community-based school intervention, he says is the biggest ever expansion in the history of secondary education in Ghana.

President Mahama said enrollment in tertiary education has increased by over 6 percent for universities and 8.9 percent in polytechnics.

Government, he pointed out, is on course to build one university in each region. He added that under the programme to convert polytechnics into universities, six polytechnics have so far met the 16 point criteria and have been shortlisted.

To assist teacher trainees to finance their education after the cancellation of the teacher trainee allowances, Mr. Mahama said he has directed the Education Ministry to direct Student Loans Trust to register trainees on their campuses and disburse student loans to them.

“This new system allows us to reinvest in the education of the next generation of teachers and students and is a more sustainable way to support teacher trainees,” he said.

To expand access to teacher training in the country, government, the president said, has absorbed about five colleges of education into the public education stream. Two other private colleges will be absorbed as well in the Bong Ahafo and Ashanti regions.

He revealed that work will begin on the construction of three new colleges in the Greater Accra, Central and Northern Regions.