The National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) has condemned the Agona East District Chief Executive (DCE) for threatening to expel non-performing teachers in his district.
The NAGRAT Vice President, Angel Cabounu in an interview with Citi News said the declaration by the DCE “is a wrong declaration, that declaration is nothing but a threat and that declaration cannot go anywhere. He will have to withdraw that statement and apologize and do the proper thing as a District Chief Executive.”
The DCE, Martin Luther Obeng gave the directive after expressing concerns about the poor performance of schools in his district in the 2013 West African Examination Council (WAEC) examinations.
NAGRAT has subsequently said his directive is unconstitutional saying, “the District Chief Executive is totally wrong in even suggesting that he will dismiss teachers because of non-performance of students.”
Mr. Cabounu explained that there is more to failure of students than the performance of teachers and the DCE’s threat is indicative that he “does not understand the issues that go into the performance in schools.”
He pointed out that there are several factors including, the performance of the teacher, the school environment, lack of incentive for teaching, the attitude of the students and their parents, lack or resources among others.
He therefore cautioned the DCE not to isolate one factor and solely blame teachers for the poor performance of their students.
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana