Government to strengthen supervision in schools

Bimbilla, June 9, GNA - Alhaji Limuna Mohammed- Muniru, Northern Regional Minister, has said the government was working to strengthen supervision in public schools, to deal with teacher absenteeism and ensure quality education.

He said: “Our strongest desire is to strengthen supervision and deal with offending teachers so that they would find it equally important, like their colleagues in private schools, to do the work expected of them.”

Alhaji Mohammed-Muniru made these remarks in a speech read on his behalf at the second congregation of the Bimbilla Evangelical Presbyterian (E.P) College of Education at Bimbilla over the weekend.

A total of 566 students, comprising 427 regular and 139 sandwich students graduated with Diplomas in Basic Education.

Alhaji Mohammed-Muniru said teacher absenteeism and lack of supervision in public schools were concerns to government, since they affected quality education delivery, and urged the new teachers to be regular in school.

“Your commitment to serve should be the overriding factor in all that you do, it does not pay nor benefit you in anyway to be a truant teacher and only pretend to work when the supervisor is around.

You must cultivate the sense of inner feeling of satisfaction that you are serving your people and imparting knowledge,” he told the newly-trained teachers.

Touching on the withdrawal of teacher-trainees' allowance by the government, the Minister said it was not an act of wickedness, but one that would ensure a high intake at the Colleges of Education, and allow a lot more people to be trained as teachers.

He announced that a teacher trainees’ loan scheme had been introduced to replace the allowance, adding, government placed premium on teacher education and would not turn its back on teachers.

He touched on a number of infrastructural projects being undertaken in the Nanumba North District, besides the Eastern Corridor Road, and gave the assurance that government would continue to pursue policies and programmes that would make life better for the citizenry.

Mr Abdulai Abu-wemah, Principal of the Bimbilla E.P College of Education, said the College had developed a five-year strategic plan to further develop and entrench its enrollment system, by creating more programmes and expanding them by linkages with sister-institutions to allow trainees to get the best of knowledge.

He said the College was fast growing in student-population, and appealed to government to help address the serious infrastructural challenges, saying it could not admit more students due to inadequate lecture halls and dormitories.


Source: GNA