MiDA, USAID sign agreement with GES

THE Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) and USAID have entered into an agreement with the Ghana Education Service (GES) to recruit 260 teachers to teach in some selected deprived communities at the cost of $75 million.
The project, which is expected to last for two years, would cover 65 deprived communities, including the Afram Plains, Abetifi, Awutu Senya and Techiman districts.
The Chief Executive of the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA), Mr Martin Eson-Benjamin, disclosed this during a signing ceremony at the Ministry of Education and said, "this would address the problem of the shortage of teachers in the country".
Mr Eson-Benjamin said MiDA would be working closely with USAID and GES to execute the project which was one key component of the Ghana Millennium Challenge Account programme.
He said the programme sought to recruit unqualified individuals, who were prepared to be trained by the International Foundation for Education and Self-help (IFESH), to teach in schools which lacked the requisite number of teachers.
According to the Country Director of IFESH, Mr Kwesi Dzidzienyo, teachers would be recruited with the help of the GES for a two-year training course.
Mr Dzidzienyo said the teachers would be taken to any of the three training centres in the country, which he mentioned as Tamale, Ajumako and the Abetifi College of Education.
He said the programme was intended to address the problem of shortage of teachers in the selected districts while fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals.
The acting Country Director of USAID, Mr David Atteberry, said as a result of the partnership, USAID would collaborate with local officials in the recruitment, training and supervision of community teachers under the programme to ensure effective teaching at the basic level.
Mr Atteberry said the trained teachers would be posted to schools built or refurbished by MiDA in the communities, while the GES was expected to play a lead role.
He explained that the community teachers, who were supported by the USAID, were local residents who were educated, had a passion for teaching and represented a pool resource for the understaffed rural schools.
Mr Atteberry noted that many of the past community teachers had gone on to complete their teacher certificate courses and have been integrated into government schools, thus drastically reducing the issue of teacher shortage in rural communities.
As part of the project, the communities would enjoy some other infrastructural facilities, including schools, water systems and other projects that would benefit the community in an effort to eradicate poverty from the communities.
The Director, Basic Education, Mr Stephen Adu, expressed appreciation to MiDA and USAID, saying that the programme would go a long way to address the challenges of teacher deployment to rural communities.
Mr Adu said the refusal of most teachers to accept posting to the rural communities had affected the quality of education delivery in these communities.
He said the programme would also develop competent and dedicated teachers at the basic level and urged teachers to accept postings to rural communities.