The National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) has cautioned the general public not to trivialize the Second Lady’s response to the request for chalk.
NAGRAT indicated that political parties and individuals who are rushing to donate the item to the Kukurantumi Presby School to prove a point “must not make fun of the issue.”
The Vice President of NAGRAT, Angel Karbonu on Citi FM’s The Big Issue expressed worry that “people are just beginning to make fun of the issue and are jumping into it and the NPP has also storms Kukurantumi and are also politicizing the issue and then people also get excited. Let us be careful and let us not make fun of it.”
[contextly_sidebar id=”0m81FOhNZiPfT7RdHyFprcGyRll4Qqvx”]“I have just seen a picture of one Afia Schwarzeneger also taking advantage and jumping into the fray to go and distribute chalk to the school and that is where my worry is,” he added.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP), some individuals and groups have been trooping to the Kukurantumi Presby School in the Eastern Region to donate various quantities of chalk after news broke that the wife of the Vice President, Mrs Matilda Amissah-Arthur had openly rebuked the headmistress of the school for daring to ask for boxes of chalk and other logistics after a donation of five computers.
After a visit to the school by a Citi News team, it emerged that the school had no electricity to enable them use the computers donated to them by the Second Lady.
The teachers of the school and some pupils narrated the challenges they experience on a daily basis due to the absence of basic logistics like chalk, registers, continuous assessment forms, books, among others.
This revelation outraged many Ghanaians who took it upon themselves to donate boxes of chalk to the school.
However, this gesture, according Mr. Karbonu is trivializing the matter.
He observed that “it looks like the exciting part of the issue is what has caught up but the real essentials have been ignored.”
He argued that the response from the Vice President’s wife was “just a slip” while the headmistress’ statement “was just following the way we just behave in this country when we see big people then we get a little bit over excited.”
The NAGRAT Vice President remarked that a visit to the premises of the Ghana Education Service (GES) will reveal that educational materials are being provided.
He was however quick to point out that the fundamental issue is “whether the materials are getting down to the intended destinations that they are meant to get down to, whether we have an effective distribution system and whether even what is quoted on the document is actually purchased and distributed.”
Mr. Karbonu wondered whether headmistress may have made prior requests to the District Supply office but did not get the said materials hence, her decision to make the demand from the Vice President’s wife.
Politicians elevated above Ghana’s problems
Meanwhile, the President of Innovative Teachers, Ghana, Stephen Desu, also speaking on Citi FM’s, The Big Issue accused politicians in Ghana of elevating themselves above the problems facing citizens.
“If you elevate yourselves above the problems that majority Ghanaians are confronted with, you can afford to throw your weight about,” he said.
He mentioned that the way Mrs. Amissah-Arthur couched her statement and the way she sought to portray teachers as being pampered “ignites some passion in teachers. That is what you will get if you speak that way.”
“It betrays the lack of emotional intelligence on her part, she didn’t weigh her words carefully…and for me, all the attempts at criticizing her is in the right direction. She should apologize and let’s move on.”
Mr. Desu added that “it takes a lot of sacrifice to be a teacher in Ghana especially in our rural areas and so for her to say that, I think it is totally uncalled for.”
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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