NAVRONGO: 350 YOUTH ENGAGED AS CETA (PAGE 13, SEPT 13, 2010)

THREE hundred and fifty youth from the Kassena-Nankana East District of the Upper East Region have been signed onto the Community Education Teaching Assistants, (CETA) Module of the National Youth Employment Programme.
The CETA module is designed to augment the teacher shortages at the deprived rural areas in the country where most trained teachers refuse postings.
Opening a one-week intensive training programme for the new recruits at Navrongo, the Deputy Upper East Regional Minister, Mrs Lucy Awuni, reminded the new entrants that the programme was a stop-gap measure which was aimed at addressing the nagging problem of youth unemployment in the country.
She explained that the programme was to offer beneficiaries an opportunity to serve in their chosen fields for two years, after which they were to exit for either further academic upgrading or acquire a professional accreditation for real employment.
She urged the new entrants to pay the needed attention to the facilities of the training programme and learn whatever they would be taught so that they could in turn use the knowledge and skills they would acquire to impact the requisite knowledge to the pupils they would be assigned to teach.
“Teaching is not a field for lazy people. You can make a great difference only if you take the opportunity offered you seriously. Try and put up your best and do bear in mind that this can be a future career for you so accord it the seriousness it deserves”, she said.
Mrs Awuni said government would continue to formulate and implement policies that would ensure the well-being of the citizenry but would require the support and co-operation of all, especially civil society groups, the private sector and well-meaning Ghanaians to achieve the set targets.
The District Chief Executive, Mr Emmanuel Andema, welcomed the move to recruit young people to teach in the district.
The District Co-ordinator of NYEP, Mr Abdul-Mumin Abdul Karim, said the purpose of the training was to introduce trainees to the teaching profession

using training manuals developed with support from the Ministry of Education to equip them with basic knowledge and skills in teaching.
He also reiterated the need for the trainees to be committed and cultivate positive attitudes in the teaching profession.
The Regional Co-ordinator of NYEP, Mr James Kojo Kopanamo, reminded the trainees that the exercise was to prepare beneficiaries for the future and not an avenue for permanent employment.
He made it clear that after two years, the current batch will be exited to pave way for others to be enrolled, adding that a comprehensive programme had been drawn to assist those who served as Community Education Teaching Assistants to enter into teacher training colleges based on their qualification.
He also called on the participants to subject themselves to the code of conduct of professional teachers and warned that those who showed gross disrespect and misconduct would be subjected to sanctions pertaining to the teaching field.
The District Director of Education for Kassena-Nankana East, Mr Severo Dery, welcomed the training programme and urged the trainees to take their studies seriously.