Teaching in a public school in Ghana
is arduous. The challenges are significant and often overwhelming.
Teachers have become so accustomed to the difficulties that they rarely discuss them. This situation
has become the accepted norm, so to speak.
In this write-up, I will try to identify some of the problems that I
believe need urgent attention.
INADEQUATE CAPITATION GRANTS
The government of Ghana provides
grants to support the operation of basic schools across the country.
These
grants are referred to as capitation grants. It is an open secret that these
funds are grossly inadequate and
usually hit the accounts very
late. It is very obvious that running a basic school is a serious undertaking
that requires substantial funding. Many headteachers are sometimes compelled to
find ways to fund the urgent needs of the schools. In some cases, headteachers are compelled to use their
personal funds to address pressing issues due to a lack of operational
capital.
LACK OF TEACHING RESOURCES
Teaching in the 21st century
requires modern resources that are
tailored towards assisting the learner. Gone are the days when teachers
used chalk and pointers as major resources in the classroom. Today’s modern
classroom requires resources such as computers, projectors, or large monitors
to display contents to learners. The sad truth is that all these resources are nonexistent in the majority of government basic schools
across the country. I think we have to be intentional about equipping our classrooms
with these very important resources to enhance teaching and learning. In
private schools where these resources are available, learner outcomes have been positively impacted. It is time the
government and other stakeholders in education take these issues seriously and act accordingly.
WORKLOAD
The workload of teachers, especially
in our public schools in urban areas, is excessive. A teacher handling over 70 pupils in one class is simply mind-boggling, to say the least. In some cases, the number is higher,
and we expect teachers to meet set targets with these numbers. Teachers have no
choice but to manage this difficult situation, but for how long can we continue
to accept this? It is simply wrong, but this is the situation we are faced
with.
In other areas, especially rural
communities where schools are usually understaffed, two or more classes are
combined for a teacher to handle. I believe multi-grade teaching should only be a temporary measure to solve the problem of teacher deficit and should not be the order of the day. It
is obviously not a case of a lack of teachers in the system, is it?
There are more than enough qualified
teachers available, but most of them simply refuse postings to deprived areas
for obvious reasons. Those who accept
postings to these areas want to
leave immediately after a short time.
Can we blame the teachers? I don’t
think so.
Working in a community where there
is no hospital, electricity, network connectivity, police station, and
accessible roads is extremely challenging.
In some cases, teachers have to spend a whole day to visit the bank for their
salaries. Who would want to work in such conditions? Your guess is as good as
mine.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Sometimes it is very difficult to
accept the fact that a basic school infrastructure,
such as classrooms is an unrealized dream in some communities. I feel
very bad as a Ghanaian when I see the kind of structures our innocent kids sit
in to learn. I cannot tell if it is a system failure or people in charge have
the will but lack the ability to
effect these changes. It is difficult to even talk of libraries, ICT Labs,
Science Labs, sick bays, and other important facilities because we have failed
to provide the most basic of all: the
classroom. In all these challenges, our rural communities are the most
affected.
POOR REMUNERATION
Remuneration for teachers over the
years has been inadequate considering
the scope of their work. Teachers are compelled to spend more hours at
work than expected. Aside from
the contact hours, teachers spend hours supervising students to prepare school
compounds and classrooms for the day’s work. Elsewhere, people are employed to
make the entire school premises ready for work, but in our system, teachers are
expected to supervise students
in this task. This increases the working hours for teachers at no extra cost to
the employer.
The situation is much worse for
teachers in deprived areas who sometimes incur significant costs in transportation just to get to work. In most
of these areas, accommodation remains a problem for teachers, which compels
them to rent outside the area. Improved
remuneration for teachers could significantly benefit them.
LANGUAGE BARRIER
In the Ghana education system, teachers are required to use the local
language as the medium of instruction from Kindergarten to Basic Three. However, teachers are sometimes deployed to
areas where they lack fluency in the community's language. This linguistic mismatch creates a
significant problem for both teachers and learners. If teachers were able to communicate with young learners in the language
they understand, it would significantly improve teaching and learning outcomes.
ATTITUDINAL CHANGE
Parents clearly have a
crucial role to play in the
development and education of their children. Some parents mistakenly believe
that providing for their children's educational needs is the sole responsibility of the central government.
Given the numerous demands on the government, it is imperative that parents
take ownership of their share of the responsibility.
SPECIALIZATION
It is clear from experience that subjects such as Creative Arts,
Computing, Ghanaian Languages, and Career Technology require specialized
teachers. Currently,
many generalist teachers struggle to handle these subjects to the best of their
ability. Addressing this deployment issue is the sole responsibility of the Ghana Education Service (GES). While
these specialist teachers are critically needed in basic schools to establish foundational skills, many are
unfortunately concentrated in second-cycle
schools.
SUPERVISION
Poor
supervision in some cases on the part of the Ghana Education Service (GES)
represents another significant challenge. This
lack of oversight has allowed some teachers to take advantage of the system,
resulting in professional misconduct. Examples include teachers willfully
absenting themselves from work without permission or reporting for duty but
failing to execute their required teaching responsibilities.
Intentional
and structured supervision is required to tackle these problems. Effective systems must be immediately
implemented and continually evaluated to address and check the attitudes and
performance of teachers in service
LOW PRESTIGE ASSOCIATED WITH THE TEACHING PROFESSION
Generally, the
teaching profession does not attract the level of respect and prestige the
legal and medical profession attracts. Teachers seemingly lack the voice to
demand the condition of service that would potentially enhance their work and improve
teaching and learning. It is a sad reality to behold.
I believe if we are a
bit more intentional about finding lasting solutions the educational needs of
our dear country, much of the issues raised here could be avoided.
LOW SOCIAL PRESTIGE
ASSOCIATED WITH THE TEACHING PROFESSION
The low social prestige of the teaching
profession is a systemic issue that impacts everything else: recruitment,
retention, professional morale, and the ability to advocate for better
conditions.
Generally,
the teaching profession does not attract the level of respect and social prestige afforded to fields like law and
medicine. This perceived lack of professional standing is compounded by the
fact that teachers seemingly lack the collective voice and leverage to demand conditions of service that would
enhance their work and improve teaching and learning. This remains a sad and
unfortunate reality.
I believe that if we were more
intentional about finding lasting solutions to the educational needs of
our country, many of the issues raised throughout this discussion could be
significantly mitigated.
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