#GH4STEM TOP 100 Teacher: Sakara Salia – Kanvilli RC School Complex, Tamale

Mr. Sakara Salia has been teaching for thirty-three years. Currently, he teaches a class of thirty five students. Mr. Salia comes from a family of twenty five. He resides in Tamale and teaches at the Kanvilli RC School Complex. Mr. Sakara has always wanted to be someone who trains children and today he has achieved that dream.

He always wanted to be a teacher, following in the footsteps of his father who was also an educator. He started school at Sakasaka Experimental and the impressive teaching of his teachers fed his love for teaching. After attending secondary school at GHANASCO, His dad encouraged him to go to training college in order to achieve his dream. He enrolled in Bagabaga training college and was posted to a school in 1986.

Mr. Sakara Salia believes that science is apparent in our everyday lives and can help develop the country. “We should be serious with science such that we will churn out people who will be meaningful and come out to produce [technology] to make our nation a better place.”

Mr. Sakara draws inspiration from training students by taking them through practical concepts. What he enjoys most about teaching STEM is how his students are involved in the lessons. The joy of imparting knowledge to students keeps him motivated in his profession. As a teacher who will be retiring soon, he is gratified when he watches the batch he has taught leaves, and a new one arrives.

When he was informed of the JUNEOS Challenge, he went through the syllabus to find a catchy topic. Eventually he and his students settled on the periscope for their experiment. Mr. Sakara’s students focused on demonstrating of the reflection of light using a periscope.

Through his participation in the JUNEOS challenge, Mr. Sakara’s teaching has gained a more practical aspect, which has made his students more attentive to his lessons. As a result of this, they are able to  demonstrate what they learn and understand the material very well. Mr. Sakara Salia explains that this helps them to become people who pay attention to detail in real life.

Mr. Sakara Salia involves himself in STEM communities. He has been a member of BSTEM for 2 years and is also a member of the Ghana Association of Science Teachers (GAST). This gives him the opportunity to enhance his knowledge and skills and to also receive assistance anytime he encounters problems during teaching in class.

Mr. Sakara would like to encourage his colleagues in other schools to participate in the JUNEOS Challenge because it will improve their teaching skills and enhance the knowledge of their students.

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Kofi Konadu Berko is passionate about education and youth development. He holds a B.A in Adult Education and Human Resource Studies from the University Of Ghana. His works have been  published in the historic Afroyoung Adult anthology titled Waterbirds On the Lakeshore, Adabraka: Stories From the Center Of the World, Tampered Press and the Kalahari Review. He blogs at obolokofi.wordpress.com