Ho-Ghana, March 26, GNA – Plan international Ghana, in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service, has provided a three-day intensive training for some selected Junior High School core subjects teachers in the Volta and Oti regions.
A total of 135 mathematics, science and English language teachers, drawn from 46 Plan international Ghana’s operational communities participated in the training, which was held in Ho.
Mr Alfred Dzikunoo, Programmes Coordinator, Plan International Ghana’s Southern Programme Influencing and Impact Area (SPIIA), told the Ghana News Agency that the programme was aimed at improving the capacity of the participants.
He said the organisation realised that over the years reports from West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) regarding Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) indicated that children had weaknesses, especially in mathematics, science and English language.
The report, he said, also recommended some measures that could be taken to address the situation, thus the decision by Plan to organise the workshop to equip teachers in the field with new instructional methods to enhance their delivery in the classroom for better results.
Mr Dzikunoo said one of Plan’s objectives was aimed at promoting quality education with focus on gender responsive teaching, which was in line with the Sustainable Development Goals four and five which talked about quality education and gender equality.
He urged the participants to create the necessary gender responsive environment needed to provide comfort for all learners to benefit from classroom activities.
Mr Francis Mensah Vidzro, Training Officer, Volta Regional Education Directorate, commended Plan International Ghana for the programme and its efforts in improving quality education in the region.
He said the performance of the region in mathematics, science and English language over the years was on the decline and commended the organisers of the workshop for the efforts to arrest the trend.
Mr Vidzro, who was also the Team Lead of Facilitators at the programme, told GNA the training would help update the skills and knowledge of the participants on new teaching methods and strategies.
He said building capacity of teachers to improve their delivery in the classroom was paramount to supporting children to excel in their final examinations and get better schools for placement.
Madam Gifty Bella Apedo, a mathematics teacher at Likpe Abrani M/A Junior High School in the Guan District of the Oti region, thanked Plan for organising the training to update their skills to deliver quality teaching to the children.
She said getting students to understand some concepts in the subject was challenging, but the training had exposed her to various techniques that could be used to get the students to easily understand the concepts.
Madam Benedicta Danso Quarshie, an integrated science teacher at Santrokofi- Bume M/A Junior High School, said she had learnt new methods that would help make the subject appealing to her children.
She expressed her appreciation to Plan and appealed that the training be done annually and also extended to cover teachers at the primary schools.
The participants were taken through topics such as; Updated teaching methods and strategies, effective classroom management techniques, use of technology in teaching, creating positive learning environment and inclusive education, assessment for learning and developing lesson plans and teaching aids.
