Ghana’s newly installed National Best Teacher, Ms Irene Essel, is excited for the honour bestowed on her Monday and says she least expected to receive her reward on earth as a teacher. She had resolved to work hard each day since beginning her career some 13 years ago, but she also resigned her fate to a heavenly reward, in keeping with the popular admonition to all teachers that their ‘reward is in heaven’. But she also wondered what will happen if she and her colleagues don’t go to heaven, she told Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, expressing her gratitude to the nation for the marvelous scheme to recognize hard work. “Yes it is a surprise,” she told Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah on the show, “because there is a saying that the teacher’s reward is in heaven so most of the time I ask myself ‘what about if we don’t go to heaven where are we going to get our reward from?’ but I think this is about the 15th edition of the Best Teacher Awards and I think the government and then the sponsors are doing very well to motivate all teachers.” At the awards ceremony held at Ho under the theme, “Build the future, invest in teachers now,” Irene, 35, was presented with a cheque for GH¢60,000 sponsored by the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) to build a house at a place of her choice. She was also given a number of computers and accessories for herself and her school, the Abeka Motorway One Junior High School in Accra. She will also be sponsored for a post-graduate course. Asked what she has to tell to encourage other teachers around the country, she said “I just want to assure them that whatever they are doing, they should do it and do it well, they should have a clear mind and focus on whatever they are doing and God in his own time will bless them in multiple folds in the near future.” The first runner-up, 31-year-old Siaka Aminu of the Laribanga D/A Primary School in the Northern Region received a pick-up plus computers for himself and his school while Mr. Reynolds Justice Quansah of the Obrachire SHS in the Central Region got a saloon car and computers as second runner-up. Story by Isaac Yeboah/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana