Stop Copying From Internet-Teachers Warned

Teachers who prioritize sourcing information from the internet to teach at the expense of the government approved textbooks have been warned to desist from the act because it distorts the course order.

Also, school owners have been urged to engage qualified teachers to teach each subject area and also serve as resource persons to other teachers.

The director of education at the Ledzokuku-Krowor Municipal Assembly, Yaw Fosu-Danquah made this call during his keynote address at the fifth graduation ceremony of Wingston International School on the theme, 'Climbing the Academic Ladder with Success for the Future.'

“We are telling schools and teachers that the first point of reference or everything we do should be the approved government textbooks, before the internet materials. Because, we have a national agenda as a country that is why government has planned the syllabus for effective use to ensure that the aim of the national agenda is achieved,” he stated.

Mr. Fosu-Danquah urged teachers to spend judicious time on preparing their lesson notes and also engage the pupils in all aspects by making sure that class activities are done correctly.
He called for ICT equipment, library and other facilities that would enhance practical activities and research.

“I visited some schools some time ago, and pupils' sentences no matter how bad they were constructed were overlooked by the teachers. Learning is a gradual process. It is a repetitive process. We should guide the children, and correct them if they go wrong..”

Role of parents
The education boss tasked parents to read and learn with their children at home since they form the children's' first point of development. He also urged them to spend time with them by monitoring their performance on daily basis, saying “the responsibility of parents is to create a learning atmosphere at home for their children.”

Local language
He tasked parents to desist from speaking English with their wards at home, but rather use the local dialect. He said Ghanaians have become alien to their own language and that foreigners like Chinese are those learning our culture.

“It is through language that we can see the culture of some people, we can see the philosophy of the people, their understanding of life. We are able to express our thought, our passion and our emotions through language.

“The fear I have is that we are making our children strangers to our own language because we have resorted to speaking English with the children. Based on the principle that language is the basis of development and learning that is why the ministry and GES brought the policy of National Literacy Accelerated Programme. The programme is that children from pre-school from KG to class three must be taught in their language so that they can understand things better,” he intimidated.

The assistant headmaster of the school, Peter Boye Fio in his opening remarks said the school has made improvement in the area of growth, provision of school bus and the registration of various departments of the school.

He said the mission of the school “is to improve the status of students and pupils and to develop their social capabilities to contribute more effectively to national development.”

The chairman of the occasion was Joshua Alarbi, chairman of the Krowor constituency of the National Democratic Congress, the circuit supervisor of Krowor North, Emma Obeng, Robert Okoe Odiko and others who graced the occasion.

In all, 44 pupils graduated from the school.