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Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur has appealed to teachers in the country to support the effort of WAEC to stamp out all examination malpractices and the effort of the Ghana Educations services to weed out all forms of unapproved fess in the country. 

Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur made the call on the celebration of World Teachers day  and 21st edition of the National Best Teacher Awards ceremony in Tamale.

 This year’s ceremony which marks the 21st awards ceremony and 1st National best school Awards and is on the theme: “Empowering Teachers Building Sustainable societies.

The Vice president further stated that government recognized that well trained teachers and motivated teachers  play a crucial  role in building sustainable society’s, through   the provision of high quality education  for teachers  to be effective .

He said they must operate in school environment conducive to teaching and learning. That is why government is delighted that this year, the teacher’s awards have been expended to include the First Edition on the national best school awards in twelve categories.  An initiative, he said will improve collaboration and efforts between the teacher and the student and create a better learning environment for the school.

 He said teacher absenteeism has improved from 89% in 2013/2014 to 90.2 % in 2014 /2015, so the need to improve it to the 100% target. 

Vice President Amissah-Arthur also announced that Education Decentralization is another initiative that government intends to empower the teacher.

And that a draft bill is currently undergoing institutional and regional stakeholders’ consultations. When passed it would bring education administration and support system closer to teachers at the District level and also facilitate the resolution of administration and other bottle necks and problems faced by the teacher.

He said so far at the secondary level, the implementation of the community Day senior high school project continues .Adding that currently construction is going on at 123 project sites, this he said includes 100 funded by the government of Ghana and 23 funded by the World Bank under the Secondary education improvement Project (SEIP).

Vice  President Amissah Arthur said  facilities in each  of the schools  include the  Central E-Block  with 24 classrooms , 8  staff  offices  4 laboratories , one library , an ICT laboratory  and an Assembly hall

Other faculties he said to be provide include head teachers bungalow; staff flat and canteen

Mr Amissahj Arthur said so far three of the projects have been completed while the remaining are at various stages of completion.

He said the government would continue to pursue the policy since it was fundamental for the realization of quality education and improving the performance of quality education in the country is a key priority to government, as part of the (SEIP), 125 existing low performing SHS have been selected and are receiving quality improvement   with a focus on math’s and science to resolve the long standing under performance of these subjects.

The Vice president said under the SEIP government has started upgrading facilities in 50 existing SHS to expand the capacity to enroll additional students.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur said the government recognized education as indispensable for social justice and participation and would continue to prioritize quality, affordability and access across the three levels of basic, secondary and tertiary education. In fulfillment of the promise by the NDC government to make Education progressively free, the President launched the Progressively   Free SHS programme on 23rd September , 2015 to coincide with the commissioning of the first completed Community Senior high school.

He said implementation has begun with 320,488 day students benefitting from a total of GH12.2 I million Ghana cedi’s

He said the government had also initiated a programme for untrained teachers to upgrade themselves by undertaking a Diploma in Basic Education /ICT training of teachers (UTDEE) programme as a means of  empowering them  and under the programme  , 40.000 untrained teachers  have received  professional training.  

Vice President Amissah-Arthur also stated that government was committed to improving the welfare of teachers to enable them deliver quality education. Through  social intervention programs  , Government  will continue to empower  pupils students  to participate  in education through  the continued implementation  of social intervention  programs namely; Capitation grant , provision of free school uniforms  and exercise books  , free school sandals , provision  of free text books  at the SHS level, SHS subsidy , among others