Ghclassrooms

  Within the past five years or so many nurses and doctors have left Ghana for the United Kingdom to work. This is mainly due to obvious reasons – poor working conditions in Ghana. The effects of this exodus could be very serious if not tackled with the urgency it requires. Nurses and doctors are human and would always want better working conditions especially when their current condition and remuneration is nothing to write home about. Another group of people with very poor working conditions if not the poorest is teachers. Many teachers I know have been looking for ways to leave the country just like the nurses and doctors. Even though some few Ghanaian teachers have been able to migrate to teach in countries like China and Vietnam, the UK has always been the ideal destination for most Ghanaians. One barrier blocking most teachers from migrating to the UK to teach is how to acquire a QTS (Qualified Teacher Status) right here in Ghana. The QTS is the license a teacher needs to acq

Entertainment is very important in our schools as it provides the avenue for our future leaders to release stress and take some time off the usual rigourous academic routines. It is very common to see musicians putting up spectacular performances in senior high schools and the universities to the joy of students. These shows doesn't come cheap especially at the university level. Entertainment is not bad in it self but must it be always entertainment when these musicians visit our schools? This article will look at other areas musicians can explore when they visit our schools. Mentoring sessions Mentoring sessions are very important especially at the senior high school level where students are mostly in their youth. Musicians can liase with school authorities to organize mentoring sessions in schools to assist students in diverse ways. This will benefit students who dream of a career in the music industry. These all-important mentoring sessions will expose young ones to the realitie

I can recall vividly a day when my ICT (Information Communication Technology) lecturer asked "how many of you would like to become teachers after school?" Initially, I thought that was a silly question because everyone in to study if you want to teach in a basic school. So why would we be here in the first place if we do not want to be teachers? I quizzed silently. One might presume that all the students in the lecture hall were aspiring to be teachers but don't be misled. In a class of over 100 students only less than 10 said they wanted be teachers in future. So why do people who do not want to be teachers get themselves trained as professional teachers?  That question would be best answered by the students themselves.  As a teacher myself, I have had the privilege to interact with a lot of teachers and 'teachers'.  Teachers here means those who are trained and want to be teachers. Whereas 'teachers' means those who are trained as teachers but do not wan

  Why do parents sometimes spend so much in educating their children but later get disappointed? Well, maybe parents could be unconsciously making certain mistakes that needs to be corrected immediately. The wish of every parent is to see children succeed in life. No wonder most parents are willing to spend their hard-earned money in educating their children. Parents in a bid to help children succeed, unconsciously make some serious mistakes that affect childrens' academic progress. In fact most parents have no idea the damage they have done to their children. The following are four Serious mistakes parents make. 1. Choosing Careers For Kids The last thing a parent would want to do is to decide for children what they should become in future. Most parents unfortunately decide for children what to do in terms of career choices. The only role parents can play here, I believe is to give guidance and support. Parents are obviously experienced and their advice on career choi

  Teacher education in Ghana has seen a lot of changes in recent times. One major change has been the change of diploma awarding colleges of education to degree awarding colleges. This means all teachers coming out of the colleges of education will have a degree as the minimum qualification. This was great news to all teacher trainees in the various colleges as this will mean a marginal increase in their salaries when they are deployed to teach. Many have louded this move by government but my question is, will the degrees automatically result in better outcomes? I am yet see any difference in the skills set of a diploma holder and a degree holder as far as teaching is concerned in this country. A lot of teachers have acquired degrees on the job but pupils in government schools are still struggling to read and write, our children are not doing well in basic arithmetic and they can't think critically. I have enquired from few teachers on why they acquired university degr

By Edinam Ahiably-kumordjie What a year 2020 has been, who could have predicted this? The COVID-19 pandemic has indeed taught humankind vital lessons in different aspects of our everyday life. Important sectors such as health, banking, aviation, transportation, sports, entertainment and of course education have all alter their operations due to this global pandemic. As  a professional teacher, I will talk about four major issues this pandemic has uncover about teaching and learning. THE WORK OF TEACHERS HAS LONG BEEN UNDERRATED The rate at which the Corona virus was spreading meant that schools be closed down. This was highly unexpected. Never in my 32 years of life have I seen schools being closed down for this long. Teachers like myself had no choice but to peacefully go home and rest as it were. On the other had, parents were reeling under the pressure of having to take care of their wards during this period of school closure. I received calls from parents complaining about their fr

In our quest to achieve better outcomes in our schools, the focus is usually on teaching methods, text books, teaching aids and qualified teachers. However  there are other factors that are very important but usually overlooked, especially here in Ghana. In this post I will talk about three of them. FOOD We all love to eat good food especially when it's our favorite. Food is eaten to satisfy hunger and our personal cravings. Am not sure many people will take in specific foods for academic reasons. Am not a medical doctor or dietician but my little research on the internet has shown that the food we eat can actually affect our cognitive abilities and hence academic work. Nutritional psychiatrist, Drew Ramsey suggests there are foods that can actually improve the functioning of the human brain. This is no rocket science because every organ in the human body requires some essential nutrients to function well. Certainly the brain also require certain  nutrients to function well. It'