info@businessghana.com
Inadequate logistics such as Teaching and Learning Materials (TLMs), are having a toll on education performance at the basic school level in the Upper West Region. Sustainable Aid through Voluntary Establishment (SAVE), a nongovernmental organisation based in Tumu, said inadequate provision of teaching and learning materials such as text books, story books and computers among others, at the basic school level, were impacting negatively on the quality of teaching and learning.
This concern was highlighted during a dissemination of the study results on the project, "Promoting learning outcome through ICT and evidence based approach", meeting held in Wa.
Mr Sule Dintie, Executive Director of SAVE, said the study had 1.494 respondents from 115 schools with teachers, pupils, and School Management Committee and Parents Teacher Association (SMC/PTA) executives across the 11 districts in the region.
He said the study focused on five key indicators of effective teaching and learning including teacher absenteeism, effective use of instructional hours, and use of pupils as private labour, performance of PTA/SMC executives and management of school funds. On teacher absenteeism, Mr Dintie said 44.1 per cent of respondents rated it as average, 44.6 per cent rated it as low, and 11.3 per cent rated it as high.
Mr Dintie said 40.2 per cent scored the use of pupils for private labour to be low, while a combined 59.8 per cent scored it as either high or average. He said 53 per cent scored teachers' use of instructional hours to be average and attributed the problem to the lack of accommodation for teachers.
The study recommended that the Ghana Education Service (GES) should provide basic logistics such as TLMs, text books, story books and computers to help improve on effective teaching and learning. It also recommended that nongovernmental organisations should assist the Ghana Education Service by providing teachers accommodation to help eliminate teacher absenteeism, improve effective use of instructional hours and reduce lateness to school on the part of teachers.
Mrs Patricia Ayiko, the Upper West Regional Director of Education, commended SAVE - Ghana for its contribution towards the enhancement of education in the region. She expressed unhappiness that teacher absenteeism and lack of effective use of instructional hours still persisted in "this modern era of educational reforms" which included monitoring and supervision.
Mrs Ayiko blamed the situation on the lack of teacher commitment to their chosen career path. Participants bemoaned the poor nature of the school feeding programme and called for a restructuring of the programme in order to improve on the quality and its nutritional content.
