The Municipal Chief Executive of Okaikwei North says plans are underway for the construction of accommodation facilities for teachers in the Municipality. He said the Assembly will utilize some unused vast land within the Municipality for the construction. According to Honourable Boye Laryea, the provision of teacher accommodation will motivate them to work harder. The Okaikwei North MCE who was speaking at the maiden Best Teacher/ Worker Awards ceremony on Thursday said the Assembly will increase the budgetary allocation towards the 2023 ceremony in order to make it very attractive for teachers to put up their best. The awards also coincided with the launch of the Municipal cloth for teachers. Touching on the theme “Deploying Technology, Celebrating the Teacher, The Learners Guide, Honourable Laryea said technology has incorporated itself into every aspect of our lives, including education indicating that “it is a tool that helps us to complete tasks effectively and efficiently”. He explained that the usefulness of educational technology lies in what teachers do with it and how best they use it to meet the needs of the students. “One significant benefit of using technology is putting students’ knowledge and skills into practice through different applications. I therefore urge students to use technology in their everyday learning.” The MCE urged all those who did not receive an award this year but are aspiring to be noticed to be motivated by the event to push harder to know that with determination everything is possible. Dr. Kwabena Bempah Tandoh, the Deputy Director-General of the Ghana Education Service in Charge of Quality and Access in a keynote address underscored the need of technology in education. He said technology has always been a part of human civilization and that how messages were sent in the past has been changed by the advent of mobile phones and by extension technology. Mr. Tandoh said that Ghana Education Service is deploying technology to improve teaching and learning in schools in the country with the introduction of Professional Learning Community Application currently available on App stores. Mrs. Cynthia Aboni, the Municipal Director of Education in an address said with the advancement in technology rapidly developing, it is no surprise that it is affecting schools and teaching methods in a big way. Technologies she stated “are part of our daily life; contributory to one’s needs and play an important role in the teaching and learning process. It makes teaching easier and more engaging. It plays a supporting role in the teaching and learning process for both teachers and learners in the school”. In her view, as a nation, ICT in education as a policy was implemented in the year 2007 as the state recognized the need for every student – from basic to the tertiary level – to acquire some knowledge about the use of these technologies which are speedily becoming part of our daily lives – education, sports, finance, music, religion among other. Some objectives of this policy, Mrs. Aboni disclosed was to ensure that students have ICT literacy skills from the basic to tertiary levels of education, provide guidelines for integrating ICT tools at all levels of education as well as a means of standardizing ICT resources for all schools, and promote ICT as a learning tool in the school curriculum at all levels. The Okaikwei North Municipal Education Director stated that the government has also in its efforts to ensure the use of technology in education and to help teachers function effectively, supplied all senior high school and junior high school teachers with laptops popularly known as the TM1 laptops at subsidized cost to enable every teacher in the country to be abreast with technological trends in education. A representative of the awardees stated that the awards is yet another call for them to do their best towards teaching and learning in the Municipality. The awardee noted that the award will also motivate their other colleagues to work harder even as they are humbled by the gesture.Earlier, the Education Directorate Honored the MCE with a special award for his sterling contribution to the development and advancement of education in the Municipality. In all, ten teachers were awarded from the various schools in the Municipality with Saint Charles Lwanga Roman Catholic School emerging the Best school in the Municipality. Other staff of the Directorate were also Honored for their contributions to education in the Municipality.
