A special award to recognise the outstanding contributions of an early childhood education teacher to the development of children will be introduced at this year’s Ghana Teacher Prize Awards Ceremony.

Known as the DG’s Award for the Best Early Childhood Teacher, the initiative is the brainchild of the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Prof. Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa.
“One of the areas that is very key to me is the level at which we lay the foundation and that is the early childhood. And over the last four years, I have been part of the campaign for the right age for enrolment. And today, I want to indicate to my good friend ... that this year, I am instituting a Special DG’s Award for the Best Early Childhood Teacher,” Prof. Opoku-Amankwa said at the launch of the 2021 Ghana Teacher Prize in Accra yesterday.

Theme
This year’s event is on the theme: “Teachers Wanted: Reclaiming Teaching and Learning for a Human-Centred Recovery.”
It is scheduled to take place in Sunyani in the Bono Region on October 5, 2021.

World Teachers’ Day
World Teachers’ Day has been set aside to, among other things, recognise the contributions of teachers to the development of human resource across the world.
Held annually on October 5 since 1994, World Teachers’ Day commemorates the anniversary of the adoption of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers.

Details
Prof. Opoku-Amankwa said he would be discussing the details of the early childhood teacher award with the National Teaching Council, the entity charged with the organisation of the Ghana Teacher Prize
“This is because once we get the foundation right, we can get the super structure right. It is very important that we make the foundation very solid and we need to do everything to encourage them so that we can get it right from the beginning,” he said.
He said the teacher was key in all the things that society did, and that it was also important that at every point in time their contributions needed to be acknowledged for the role they play in the nation’s development efforts.
The GES Boss said for all the professions, no one could do without a teacher.
“For those of us who very soon would be going off the scene, our biggest social security are the young ones because when we leave they are the ones who would become the lawyers, accountants and so on, and take over all the roles that we play now.
“It is important that we prepare them well,” he emphasised.

Assurance
Prof. Opoku-Amankwa gave the assurance that the government would continue to provide the schools with the resources they needed for effective teaching and learning.
He said he relayed this message to the heads of schools last week when officials of the Ministry of Education and the GES visited some second cycle schools.