The Chief of Kobeng in the Atwima Nwabiagya district of Ashanti region, Nana Yaw Ansah-Bediako II, has observed that the provision of quality education could be fully achieved and sustained if the service conditions of teachers were realistic. Quality education, he noted, had contributed meaningfully to the nation’s socio-economic development and must therefore be accorded the utmost recognition and support. Nana Ansah-Bediako was speaking at an educational forum organized by the Atwima Nwabiagya district education directorate at Kobeng near Nkawie to create awareness on enrolment and retention and community participation in the development of education. Teachers, he said, are a vital component for the effective provision of quality education and should be adequately motivated. “The provision of infrastructure and other facilities aimed at enhancing quality education would be a mirage if the service conditions of teachers were not appropriately improved,” he added. Nana Ansah-Bediako regretted that the salaries and general service conditions of teachers were not encouraging while the communities also continue to be hostile towards them. He said teachers have always been at the receiving end of societal injustice adding that, some parents, assaulted teachers for punishing their undisciplined children. The chief attributed the inadequate qualified teachers in the system to unattractive service conditions resulting to frustration and large number of them leaving the profession to join other lucrative departments, agencies and institutions. Mr Owusu Agyeman, district Community Participation Co-ordinator, asked the society to accord teachers the respect and recognition they deserve to enable them improve upon their performance. Source: GNA