Some public school teachers have lashed out at President Akufo-Addo over his comment that teaching is not a profession for persons hoping to be billionaires.
The President made the statement while addressing the leadership of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) at the Jubilee House, Accra last week.
He said “…we understand that, but nevertheless, I don’t think that there’s anywhere in the world that people go into teaching expecting to become millionaires and make money. If you want to do that, you do other things.
“You only do teaching because you want to make a contribution to the welfare of the society and you’ve done that very well”.
But teachers who spoke to Starr News in reaction to the comments made by the president are unhappy.
A teacher at Adeiso in the Eastern region, Adjei Ansah, said “for me, I was shocked when I heard the president’s statement and I asked myself whether it’s a crime to be a teacher. I think the president should apologize to Ghanaians and all teachers as well.”
Another said, “if this should continue in the next ten to twenty years to come, no one will want to go to a training college to become a teacher since the person would want to be a billionaire and not to be a poor teacher who would even be insulted when the person asks for a better condition of service. It’s best if he apologizes”.
“As a teacher, I must say I am highly disappointed in the president for saying this. I don’t know where it is a crime to be a teacher. I don’t know why in our part of the world we tend to look down on teachers this way. I am highly disappointed. I don’t know what to say but at this point, I regret being a teacher”, a third teacher lamented.
The fourth teacher from Tema asked the president to come again saying “Mr president should come again. I mean if today you’re telling us my work is a sacrificial job, it’s mostly on service. Fine, it’s the hard truth, but is this what you tell teachers? The timing and the tone, I’m forced to advice myself.”
He added, “so, this time the extracurricular activities I do, since its a sacrificial job, it’s voluntary.”
