The Ghana National Association of Teachers, (GNAT) on Sunday commissioned the second batch of its Field Research Assistants after a week’s capacity building on basic skills research workshop for 30 participants from all the 10 regions that ended in Koforidua. The workshop was to enable the participants to use their research skills to gather information about the association and process them in a useable manner for action by the top management. Mr. Johnson Boh, Research Officer, GNAT and the course coordinator said the association viewed the impact of research in its organizational management as critical to effective information flow. He said the field research assistants would serve as a complement and play a significant role to support the existing structures of GNAT, adding that, they would identify information gaps in the association that might limit effective programme delivery on effectiveness and provide feedback for review. “They will identify the needs and demands of the rank and file of the membership of GNAT in every region and submit reports for redress and also conduct studies into relevant issues affecting the rank and file in the regions, then offer suggestions based on the outcomes,” he said. Mr Boh said, it was the hope of GNAT that research-based information would be the integral part of its decision-making process. Mr. John Noagbe, Deputy General Secretary, GNAT said if teachers want to be a part of the globalization process, then there was the need for them to forge with one purpose, adding, “If international organizations are coming together then why should we divide ourselves”. He called on teachers to know how to work together and share information through various means. Mr.Noagbe urged members of the GNAT to be civil to the other members of the divide and not to fight them but to share the concerns of teachers with them. Mr. Solomons Djaba-Mensah, Eastern Regional Chairman of GNAT, who presided, advised teachers to invest so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness and success,saying; “the clock is running.” Miss. Gifty Kimful-Herward Mills, the course prefect, in her report, recommended that future workshops should be extended to two weeks and participants be often assigned field practical research work so that knowledge acquired would not be wasted. Source: GNA