The second edition of ‘Duker Teachers’ Award’, instituted by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tarkwa Nsuaem Constituency, in the Western Region, George Mireku Duker was successfully held last Saturday, with the crowning of a Tutor from Tarkwa Senior High school, Madam Edna Amihere, as the overall best teacher.
She went home with a citation and a $14,500 brand new saloon car, sponsored by Nduvu mining Limited, after beating four other male contenders for the overall best teacher category.
The Duker Teachers’ Award is aimed at honouring, celebrating and motivating teachers in the TarkwaNsuaemarea to give up their best. It was instituted by the Legislator last year.
This year’s edition, however, saw two more categories-Non Teaching and Head teacher award categories, making it six awards in number.
The categories are; Non- teaching staff, Kindergarten category, Primary Category, JHS Category, Senior High School Category, Head Teacher Category and Overall Best Teacher Category.
A total of nine teachers, plus the overall best teacher, received various prizes and each of the categories had both second and first runner up receiving prizes ranging from chest freezer, 50 inch led Television and a Refrigerator.
The second edition of the Duker Teachers’ Award attracted people from academia, traditional leaders and the business community.
WHY TEACHERS’ AWARD
The brain behind the award and Legislator for Tarkwa Nsuaem Constituency, George Mireku Duker, who is also the Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, addressing the gathering indicated that developing educational structures and potentials in Tarkwa-Nsuaem was not only about providing the necessary infrastructure, teaching and learning materials but also to take into cognisance the welfare of the human resource that nurture our children.
“You can all attest that, Teachers are the fulcrum around which all discoveries and advancement of knowledge in all fields of endeavor revolve”.
Education, according to the Tarkwa Nsuaem Legislator, has been his top-notch priority to change the fortunes of his Municipality.
He told the gathering that teachers are minimally motivated, irrespective of the strenuous task they put into their work.
That apart, he is also aware that some teachers teach in very remote areas that are not accessible by transportation, yet they continue to give off their best.
“These are some of the reasons why I set forth this journey, through your good selves to change the face of teaching in the Wassa Fiase enclave,” he said.
As a Member of Parliament, Minister Mireku Duker pointed out he is very much committed to recognise teachers whom he described as the heartbeat of our educational system and even in the face of uncertainties they put up their best to shape the expectations of our future leaders.
“This makes teaching a special profession that requires special values to nurture the young ones. It takes indefatigable men and women called Teachers to imbue the expectations of our young ones towards their aspirations. We have all risen to our current levels just because of some impacts made by most of our teachers.
Today, we will celebrate patriotic torch-bearers and all colleagues in the Profession like them, working assiduously towards the development of Ghana despite peculiar challenges they face in line of work”.
According to him, the reason for instituting the award scheme,“stems out from the various sacrifices made by teachers in this Municipality to impact our children towards their future and I believe the institution of this award scheme is one way towards recognising and motivating their efforts.
I am very optimistic that it is a rightful step towards enriching education in the Municipality and it aligns with contributing towards achieving the targets of goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which seeks to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”.
MPDuker assured the gathering that the award scheme has come to stay and “I will like to cease this opportunity to call on all stakeholders to support in making it one of the best awarding schemes in the Country”.
The overall best winner, Edna Amihere expressed delight in winning the award.
A four member committee received 50 applications from interested participants. Thirty six were shortlisted after an interview and 19 qualified for the final awards.
Present at the ceremony were Prof Richard Kwasi Amankwah, Vice Chancellor of University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), Dr Steven Saforo Yirenkyi, Chairman of UMaT Council, Regional Education Director, Felicia Adjeibea Okine, District Education Directors, Omanhene of Wassa Akropong, Tetretteh Okuamoah Sekyim II, MP for Kade Alexander Adjare and Angela List, CEO of Adamus Resources, amongst other dignitaries.
