Emergency Teacher Project: A community based project within the Lawra District

Date of commencement: july-augus 2005
Project site : schools within the Nandom SSS catchments
Activity : Training of non trained teachers for JSS schools within the SSS school catchments.
Aim: To supply and pay at least one reasonable qualified teacher to every JSS school within the project area.

Project Description

Education in Ghana, especially in the Upper West Region, is facing many difficulties. One of these difficulties is the lack of available science teachers for the JSS schools in the region. Finding sufficiently qualified teachers is one of the biggest challenges the schools, their Parent Teacher Associations (PTA’s) and Ghana Education Service (GES)face at the beginning of each academic year. One of the solutions has been found in the use of Senior Secondary School (SSS) students whom have just finished their final exams. They use their acquired knowledge to teach at Junior Secondary School (JSS)schools the year they have to wait before entering university. Though of course this is not an ideal situation; it does provide a very practical and direct answer to this particular problem. However this solution still does not fill all the vacancies in the region, nor does it supply qualified teachers.

To improve the teaching capabilities of the SSS students and to stimulate interest and appreciation for the Teaching Profession, the Emergency Teacher Project has been launched. It acknowledges the efforts made and the results achieved thus far. The formal structure proposes a sustainable solution for the continuous lack of teachers at JSS schools in the Upper West Region by using the means and methods available.

Central within the project is a Senior Secondary School (the pilot school will be Nandom SSS). This school offers selection and training of sufficient teachers to deliver at least one emergency teacher for every surrounding JSS (making a total of 19 teachers for the Nandom region). During the final semester those students who have had good results in the end of term examination will be selected to teach at one of the surrounding JSS schools. The training will be conducted by the teachers at Nandom SSS. The project wants to find professional assistance from Teacher Trainers within as well as outside the region. They will help the Nandom teachers to train their students and monitor their progress in the following year.

We look forward to the full support of all the stakeholders involved to ensure the project’s success. It is our sincere hope that the emergency teacher program will enrich and improve teaching within the Nandom circuits.