Teacher absenteeism in Talensi and Nabdam Districts worrying – Research

School under treeA study conducted in the Talensi and Nabdam Districts of the Upper East Region indicates that about 90 per cent of teachers in the area absented themselves from school without permission in the years 2012 and 2013.

The trend has been identified as a challenge to effective teaching and learning as it adversely affects teacher-pupil contact hours.

The Link Community Development, an NGO in education which conducted the study in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service as part of a programme known as Tackling Education Needs Inclusively (TENI), made the revelations at this year’s Education Conference (EDUCON) organized at Gbeogo in the Talensi District.

The conference had as its theme, “Achieving Quality Education through hard work and commitment from teachers and stakeholders”.

The study showed that 296 trained teachers in the area topped in absenteeism, recording 2,366 full days absent representing 12.49 per cent teaching days missed.

It indicated that there were 69 kindergartens, 69 Junior High schools and two senior High schools with total enrolment of 34,181 in the district.

The study showed that 195 pupil teachers were 1,803 days absent within the same period, while 54 National Service teachers missed 576 working days without permission. In addition, 132 National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) teachers and community based teachers missed 2,096 full days without obtaining any permission.

Written permissions for absenteeism were 729, verbal permissions totaled 2,066 and no permission at all was 6,678, constituting 90 per cent absenteeism.

Mr Joachim Farrah, District Director of Education for Talensi District, addressing the participants said the directorate had the ambition of turning the schools in the district into ones that pupils could count on to prepare them for the future.

He said in spite of the problem of teacher absenteeism, the district’s pride remained in the continuous retention of the Region’s number one position with aggregate six in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BEBE) as it exhibited in 2012.

Other challenges the Director enumerated included the lack of classrooms, office accommodation for the directorate and rampant stealing.

Mr Farrah commended stakeholders and acknowledged the interventions of LINK, Action Aid, Bonaboto, the Ghana Health Service, the District Assemblies and World Vision.

In an address read for him by the District Chief Executive for Talensi, Mr Edward Awonnore, the Regional Minister, Alhaji Limuna Mohammed Muniru, reiterated government’s commitment to attain the MDGs on education for all.

The Minister, however, expressed worry that some parents gave little value to the education of their wards, engaging them in economic activities at the expense of educating them.

He called on parents to invest in the education of their children to secure a better future for them.

Source: GNA

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