Tough times ahead for teachers (New Essential Workers) when schools reopen

There are tough times ahead for teachers, our (New Essential Workers) when schools reopen. Teachers at the pre-tertiary level must brace themselves for learners as the reopening date for schools draws near.

After nearly ten months at home, teachers will meet their learners again in the class. Students and pupils will come in changed emotionally, mentally, and physically.

Academically, teachers should expect that their learners are likely to have fallen back and out of steam.

Thus, teachers will be needed to sacrifice for learners to pick up forgotten concepts and also build on these concepts when lessons begin.

Tough times ahead for teachers is real and the danger of learners not “knowing anything” or forgetting everything entirely should be expected.

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In a publication by Informed Teachers Network sighted by Ghanaeducation.org, the former outlined some realities of students and pupils who will return to the classrooms. According to Informed Teachers Network,

1. When school reopens, teachers should not expect the behaviour of their students to remain the same because learners have advanced in age and have changed in many respects. Biological development would have caused a lot of changes in these learners over the last ten months.

2. Learners especially those from upper primary to SHS3 might have been exposed to dangerous environments and people during the COVID-19 down. Poor attitudes and lifestyles might have been cultivated by some students, which teachers will have to deal with when school reopens.

3. It is also possible that our students might have also been exposed to some experiences, suffered abuses. Others might have also been introduced to substance abuse. These experiences can alter the way they think, talk, and act. Some went through abuse and extreme hunger.

4. All learners returning to the classroom need special attention and the support of teachers to get back on track. During the lockdown, and the period when the government eased restrictions, these learners might have engaged in some money-making activities. They therefore now know the value of money. How do teachers help put such learners back on track to let them know that learning and gaining knowledge has the potential of giving them better jobs, opportunities, and money in the future?

5. There are tough times ahead for teachers because some of our students coming back to the classroom have tasted s3x and hard drugs. When they return, they need counseling and our support. Well-behaved students may not be the same.

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The above paints a better picture of the challenges that our hard-working teachers will have to deal with besides teaching and learning. A clear sign that teachers in Ghana from 15th January will be on a rescue mission as essential workers who need all the support, motivation, and resources to help the nation and its learners win themselves from the long break, inactivity, the learning loss, and the bad experiences they carry back to the classroom.

Tough times ahead for our new essential workers (Teachers) when schools reopen, let us help them as parents and a nation that needs to revive its education and train its human resources.

The Ghana Education Service, Ministry of Education, Private school owners, and other stakeholders must ensure teachers are resourced and motivated to carry the burden of imparting knowledge.

Our teachers must be emotionally stable, determined to work and be ready to have and deploy some level of tolerance in their line of duty. As a nation, we need our teachers now than ever. Let us value them and they will deliver.

ALSO READ: Private school teachers salaries must not be peanuts in 2021

Source: Wisdom Hammond | GhanaEducation.Org | Informed Teachers Network