EDUCATION OFFICERS DON'T JUST FIND FAULTS (PAGE 11, DEC 2)

THE Eastern Regional Manager of the Presbyterian Educational Unit, Rev. Samuel Yeboah Antwi, has appealed to teachers to regard education officers as partners in the delivery of quality education and not as people who just wish to find faults with them.
According to him, the general perception among teachers that education officers were people who went round to various schools only to find faults was seriously undermining efforts at improving the standard of education in some Presbyterian basic schools in the New Juaben Municipality.
“The visits by the educational officers, as part of the educational focus of the church, are aimed at encouraging teachers to offer their best and work with them as partners in the delivery of quality education at the basic levels, but not to find any fault,” Rev. Antwi stated.
Rev. Antwi made the appeal at a one-day capacity building workshop for 50 Mathematics, Integrated Science, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Basic Design Technology teachers drawn from the Presbyterian junior high schools (JHS) in the New Juaben Municipality at the weekend.
The workshop was to equip the participants with the requisite knowledge and skills to enable them to proficiently teach the subjects to improve educational standards at the Presbyterian basic schools in the area.
It was organised by the Presbyterian Education Unit in Koforidua.
Rev. Antwi said the frequent visits by the education officers from the Presbyterian Education Units to various basic schools of the church in the New Juaben Municipality were aimed at ensuring that teachers put in their best, were punctual, prepared their lesson notes and gave assignments to their pupils.
He, however, expressed worry about the perception among some teachers who had often considered such visits by the education officers as “a fault-finding mission to be used to punish them”.
This negative perception, according to him, was seriously undermining efforts by the education unit to work closely with teachers so as to improve educational standards at the basic schools in the area.