By Bernard Kwofie
Thanks to this Ngoanyana far away Lesotho, I got reminded of today, the 16th of June as the International Day of the African Child. Further in her txt she makes it clear that the day as observed each year since 1991, is in honor of the kids who participated in the 1976 Soweto uprising and is to promote the need to improve education for African children.
Coincidentally and here in Ghana, the 2014 Basic Education Certificate Examination happens to take off today as well. It is reported that about are 422,946 final-year junior high school (JHS) students are taking part in this year?s exams. This is reported to be made up of 223,765 males and 199,181 females.
Then I chanced upon this quote on a major news website. Of course it an anonymous one and simply reads; ??if you can read this, thank a teacher??. Thought began running me down and I wondered what will become of this noble profession if teachers fail to equip our children with basic literacy skills. What will I be making of my teacher if today I couldn?t read and write? What is so exceptional about a teacher?s role in a Childs ability to read and write; that an entire generation is taught to be grateful? Are these not the basic of which they are called, to which they are paid?
Is it that teachers are paid to show compassion and do us favor, that by teaching they become overnight heroes? If the latter holds then let them not claim benefit for their services.
Why should the doctor be hailed for saving a dying soul in his or her line of duty? What then are they trained for? I believe if we want to improve service excellence and avoid providers taking advantage of the paying Ghanaian, then we should begin to redirect our thinking in its professional sense and perceive it as such.
Service providers must also understand they do nothing for merely being of service and should expect no unique acknowledgement in return.
Indeed, just as in every profession there are exceptional teachers that should always deserve our mention. There are teachers who are going the extra mile to serve as mentors, role models, mothers and fathers to their students. There are teachers who are spending time and money to provide exposure, cloths, food and even shelter to their underprivileged students.
I can talk of my friend Frank who often invites me to talk to his students on Ghana?s upstream sector and the opportunities therein for them to aspire. Frank even uses his personal laptop to provide hands on experience to his students as a means to boost their interest and skill in ICT.
I can talk of the lonely teacher at the Mpream Primary School who also doubles as the head teacher. This young man out of excellence handles all the six classes.
I can also talk of my friend?s wife who often takes the pain to bath some of her pupils and provides them with new underwear?s.
For me these are the ones deserving our glorious praise and we should think highly of. Not the ones who find fault in every child and yet think we should hold in high esteem simply because a doctor has emerged out of a child they taught. Be it ?naughty?.
I know my thought may come unpopular and given the chance many will crucify me for it, merely for being opinionated perhaps to the extreme.
But if we should be sincere enough then we will be bold enough to say that we pay the Ghanaian teacher to teach. Then we will not spend time and effort to appreciate people for what they have called themselves to and out of which they earn their living.
Certainly I can write this but I will not thank a teacher; at least not the one in his or her noble profession. Rather I will thank the teacher in my mother, the teacher in the friend who taught me to read, the teacher in the children service who went the extra mile to find me scholarship.
These are the ones we do not pay to teach. But they teach because they are exceptional.
It?s a week of examination and I would like to pause here and wish all the candidates the very best in their examination.
To the teachers who went beyond their paid duties to spend sleepless night just to ensure the kids are well prepared, know that you are in our minds. Cheers.
