He said the results of the examinations were worrying, considering the poor performance of the teachers who were supposed to be imparting knowledge to children.

Dr Addai-Poku made these remarks at the 2022/23 Cohort – Leading Girls’ Learning Programme town hall meeting organised by the Institute of Teacher Education and Development (INTED).

The Leading Girls’ Learning Programme enrolled by INTED with support from USAID, seeks to address attitudes and barriers against girls in second cycle school to improve their learning environment.

The programme also builds the competences and skills of teachers in second cycle to improve the teaching and learning outcomes in schools.

Dr Addai-Poku said the knowledge and capacities of teachers needed to be continually developed to enable them excel in their profession.

He stressed that the continuous professional development of teachers enable them to sharpen their skills and upgrade their teaching profession.

Dr Addai-Poku said there was the need for female teachers to be encouraged to climb up the teaching ladder into second-cycle institutions, saying, their numbers at that level was not encouraging.

He indicated that out of the total population of teachers at the second cycle level, only 26 per cent were female.

“Having more female teachers at the second cycle level would enable the girls in the schools to have role models they can look up to in these female teachers,” he added.

Mr Divine Ayidzoe, Chief Director, Ministry of Education, said very soon an entrance examination for persons who wanted to enrol in the various Colleges of Education would be instituted.

He said with this intervention, Colleges of Education would have bright students to enrol in them to enhance the teaching profession in the country.

Mr Kwabena Amporful, Executive Director, INTED, said INTED over the past decade had worked with development partners to improve the quality of teaching and leadership practices in Senior High Schools.

He added that they had provided professional development programmes to over 3,500 teachers in over 70 schools in the country.