Mr William Kwame Amankrah Appiah, the Ashanti Regional Director of Education, has stressed the need for teachers to equip their pupils with skills that will make them employable and self-sufficient after school.
He said it should be the pride of every teacher to see his or her past pupils gainfully utilising the skills they had acquired through their school, to be able to cater for themselves and their families. Mr Amankrah Appiah made the call in an address read for him at the maiden skills training, organised by the Atwima Mponua District Directorate of Education for some pupils at Nyinahin.
A total of 284 pupils from 71 basic schools within 16 circuits in the district were trained in meat pie, short bread, local soft drinks such as ‘sobolo’ and millet drinks, liquid soap, bleach and beads making, among others. Mr Amankra Appiah, pointed out that the training programme was in line with the policy of the regional education directorate, on the need for every school-going pupil in the region to at least have a skill in one vocation after completing basic education.
He emphasised that skills training would keep pupils busy at all times, prevent them from roaming about in search of non-existing white color jobs after school, while preventing them from engaging in social vices that could ruin their future. Mr Amankrah Appiah, commended the organisers of the programme for their hard work and dedication, since it would build confidence in the pupils.
Ms Ama Adwubi Asafu-Adjaye, the District Director of Education, noted that the training would help empower the pupils to develop appropriate vocational skills that would help them to cater for themselves after school. She mentioned dilapidated classroom blocks, teachers and pupils walking long distances in thick forests to fetch unwholesome water, child labour, illegal mining which exposed pupils to hazards, as some of problems facing education delivery in the district.
She said some parents also left their younger children in the care of the pupils and attended the Nyinahin and Bibiani markets on Tuesdays and Fridays respectively. Ms Asafu-Adjaye said awards ceremony would soon be organised to recognise the hard-working teachers, especially female teachers in deprived communities to serve as motivation for others.
Source: GNA
