The Ghana Education Service (GES) has challenged teachers in the country to continue using the blackboard as a medium of writing examination questions for pupils because it is part of the teaching and learning materials available to them and is here for good.
“In fact, in the schools we know teachers do their class test and the various quizzes and things like that still using the blackboard. Well we can’t do anything about that, the blackboard is part of the resources a teacher needs in teaching and learning”. Prof. Kwasi Opoku-Amankwah Director General of the Ghana Education Service has said in an interview with GBC radio monitored by MyNewsGh.com.
According to the GES, the principle behind the use of blackboard is that, “when the teachers ask you to do something, the teachers can easily ask you to show it up standing in front. You can easily see that one and the teacher can come to you. So if you want to do some key work and interactive work you he can easily see that one than to use smaller paper”.
Prof. Opoku-Amankwah explained that elsewhere, up to about primary three pupils do not even write on paper. They write on smaller chalkboards hence Ghanaian teachers must take cues from that.
GES recently banned teachers from taking monies from parents for printing examination questions the end of term.
This order from the service brought a lot of debate among citizens and most educationists in the country.
However, some teachers quickly took the opportunity to showcase the stress they go through writing on blackboard in the classroom especially during examination.
On various social media platform, teachers displayed pictures of their frustrations following the new directive but the GES seems to have no problem with its decision as its Director General says the service does not encounter any challenge.
“The only challenge that we had was the over dramatization of it, I mean since when did a teacher have to climb a ladder before he writes on the blackboard? It’s unthinkable and they just want to demonstrate that we did not allow them to levy the children, that is why they are doing that and we felt that that was very unfortunate”. Prof. Opoku Amankwah said.
“Blac board will still continue and be part of the class and the teachers will continue to use it, he insisted.
