Teacher in classroom
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH for teacher trainees. It seems that out of the numerous institutions in this country there is no one to speak for teacher trainees and the only one ready to speak also possess a lower voice that can be heard by few; thus TTAG.
For the past two years, teacher trainees have suffered an unimaginable [ads1]trial and tribulations that are beyond their control but there is neither a Redeemer nor a solution. What sin or evil have teacher trainees committed to deserve such ill-treatment?
The most painful aspect of it is that there is no measurable and concrete explanation to quench their dying thirst of these questions. For that matter, one can emphatically say that teacher trainees are like bees whose attention are only sought for after they have produced honey in their honeycomb.
For the past two years, teacher trainees have encountered what l will describe as “triangular suffering”.
The first angle is a dismissal of students with D7 from the forty-six colleges of education in this country. No student has ever admitted himself or herself into any of these colleges as it is done by the various principals. Therefore it became a surprise to all trainees when some of their colleagues were dismissed for what they described as ” unqualified ” students. The principals and the other officers knew that applicants were unqualified yet they admitted them for the reason they alone knew. These same principals waited patiently for the unqualified students to pay their admission fee, attended classes, wrote the first semester exams and ended the first phase of the second semester before they were given their disappointed dismissal letters without giving them any convincing reasons or refunding them their monies.
TTAG with all efforts to compel PRINCOF to refund the money proved futile for some autocratic reasons.
The second angle is what l call “by force licensure exams’ and one-year compulsory national service” imposed by the ministry of education and the other stakeholders.
From the pre-colonial British administration through the thirty years of a military regime to this contemporary era of democracy, national service has always been out of context for teacher trainees. But what happened that the center cannot hold and things have fallen apart. What led to the introduction of national service concealed in the name of probation and induction period? Recently three-year diploma trainees are mocked as unprofessional teachers for not having a mere paper called teachers’ license conducted by NTC. Let us analyze these questions
- From the president, if this country up to the minister for education and the various stakeholders, who taught them?
- Were these teachers professional or not?
- If they were professionals, what license were they holding?
- If they were not professionals, how did they teach them to become professors, doctors, and masters who are now managing the educational sector without taken into account the possible future consequence of their actions?
We should not forget that doctors and other physicians can treat all parts of the body but it takes only a teacher to train the minds and hearts of the citizens towards national consciousness and patriotism.
The third angle of description is what l will term as CETAG government controversies. In the 2017/2018 academic year, the newly admitted students, the then L200 and the out program trainees suffered academic inactivity as CETAG embarked on an endless strike with no sign of coming back.
In this 2018/2019 academic year, students are equally suffering a similar trauma as CETAG has embarked on an indefinite strike without any sign of coming back.
After one month postponement, trainees came to meet empty classrooms with no material to study.
IN FACT, trainees are sick and tired of political influence in the educational sector. Trainees are hundred percent and legitimate citizens of this country and therefore must be treated with respect and honor as done to the professionals in the various sectors. Trainees can no more cry, we can no longer wail and there is no one to present our petition to because all the stakeholders are now dumb and those with ears are never ready to listen.
Bob Marley once said “Be good to the people on your way up the ladder for you will need them on your way down”
EVERY TEACHER TRAINEE IS NOW LIVING IN A DELIMA OF DARKNESS WITH THE HEART ENGULFED WITH PAINS AND BITTERNESS.
Why so?
By: Armstrong Atiewen Isaac
(Teacher trainee, Gbewaa College of Education, Pusiga)
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