Some teachers at Sang in the Mion District of the Northern Region have lauded the Teacher Professional Development Project (TPDP) for equipping them with skills and knowledge to employ appropriate teaching methodologies to improve teaching and learning.
They were speaking at a review meeting on the TPDP held at Sang over the weekend for stakeholders in education in the district to assess the impact made by the project on education delivery in the area.
The TPDP is an initiative of Youth Empowerment for Life, an NGO, and it has been implemented at Sang Zakaria, and Gunsi A.M.E Zion Primary Schools in the district to amongst others strengthen relational competence of teachers and ensure motivated active pupils to achieve good learning outcome.
Findings from the implementation of the TPDP showed that 91 per cent of the TPDP beneficiary teachers now had very good knowledge of what constitute a child friendly-classroom atmosphere to ensure improved teaching and learning.
Mr Seidu Alhassan, Head Teacher of Sang Zakaria Primary School, who spoke during the meeting at Sang, said many of the teachers at the school now applied reflective teaching approaches in their lesson delivery.
On his part, Mr Yussif Husseini, Head Teacher of Gunsi A.M.E Zion Primary School, said the TPDP had helped the teachers to use arts and demonstration in their teaching exercise making teaching and learning more exciting for pupils.
Mr Husseini said the TPDP had also helped to address issues of teacher absenteeism while improving teachers’ contact hours with pupils to ensure effective teaching and learning.
For his part, Alhaji Karimu Mohammed, Educational Technical Advisor at YEfL, said an evaluation of the TPDP showed that School Management Committee (SMC) and Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) members related well with their teachers and wanted the teachers to transfer such relationship to the pupils.
Alhaji Mohammed said in view of its impact, the project was being replicated at three more schools in the District including Sang Islamic Primary, Zakpalsi Primary and Salinkpang Primary to improve education outcome.
Mr Adibu Mba, Mion District Examinations Officer, appealed to teachers to abide by the Ghana Education Services’ rules and regulations regarding the use of canes on pupils to ensure effective teaching and learning.
Mr Mba also appealed to members of SMC and PTA in the area to ensure effective monitoring of the schools as well as collaborate with the schools’ authorities to improve classroom infrastructure to ensure a conducive learning environment for improved teaching and learning.
