90 U. East education workers honoured(May 10 2010. Page 54)

Ninety Teaching and Non-teaching Staff in the Upper East Region have been honored for their dedicated services.
The best teachers for the past three years, 2007 to 2009 were presented with prizes including Double Door Refrigerators, Colour TV sets and four burner Gas Cookers and a certificate.
The Bolgatanga Municipal Chief Executive, Mr. Epsona Ayamga, who deputized for the Regional Minister, Mr. Mark Woyongo expressed the hope that the awards will help to motivate the teachers to give off their best.He said the NDC government, taking cognizance of some of the challenges confronting teachers and the education service as a whole in the quest for quality education delivery has put in place a lot of interventions as captured in the 2010 budget statement to address most of the challenges.
He said for example, under Teacher Motivation and Retention, the government will continue to implement teacher incentive packages and motivation for teachers.
The Acting Regional Director of Education for the Upper East Region, Mrs. Agnes Atagabe called for the need to motivate teachers in order for them to go the extra mile in achieving quality education.
She stressed that quality education is not achieved on a silver platter neither does it come from teachers only. “It is achieved through hard work, dedication and the concerted efforts of government, parents, development partners and the students themselves,” she said.
Whilst commending the government for showing concern about the plight of teachers and the efforts being made to make the profession attractive, the Acting Regional Education Director also appealed to teachers and workers to go the extra mile and help ensure the success of the government’s educational reform and policies.
She spoke about the issues of absenteeism and insufficient contact hours which negatively impact teaching and learning and added that if teachers would consciously increase the contact hours with their pupils and encourage them to learn by setting good examples, we can achieve the millennium development goals with regards to education.