The Volta Regional Director of Education, Enyonam Afi Amafuga, has bemoaned the poor level of literacy and numeracy skills of teachers in Ghana especially at the lower levels of education.

She observed that the basic levels of education are where literacy and numeracy skills are critical in the development of the child.

"A deeper look into the challenge of educating our children to acquire literacy and numeracy skills have revealed that teacher competency in that area of our dispensation leaves much to be desired,” said Enyonam Afi Amafuga.

According to the Education Director, teacher competency in these two areas requires serious attention.

She was speaking at the opening ceremony of a teacher support training workshop organised by Pencils of Promise on literacy for 734 teachers in the Volta region in Ho.

The regional director of education was of the view that professional training and qualification in education was not enough to attain teacher quality and the required competency for quality education, instead, teachers require continuous support through in-service training like the kind Pencils of Promise provides.

She commended Pencils of Promise, an education Non-Governmental Organisation, for their continuous support for the educational sector in teacher support and provision of basic infrastructure and teaching and learning materials.

Enyonam Afi Amafuga also commended the timing of the workshop which was organised during the vacation period.

Country Director of Pencils of Promise, Freeman Gobah, hinted of plans to increase the number of participating schools by 30 -- from the current number of 78 to 108 by September 2019 when another training workshop will be due.

According to Freeman Gobah, even though the organisation has existed globally for only 10 years and in Ghana for the past 6years, it has contributed tremendously to education, building 154 schools so far.

Some 60 of those schools, which started in 2018, are currently ongoing and are expected to be completed by the end of this year.