OuTS 2024: Dr. Maxwell Ampong urges continued support for teachers

The Chief Executive Officer of the Maxwell Investments Group (MIG), Dr. Maxwell Ampong, has called on all Ghanaians to rally behind the Outstanding Teachers Summit (OuTS).

According to him, teachers are the building blocks of every society, in that everybody out there who has ever sat in the classroom to be taught by a teacher has been supported by a teacher at some point in time.

“Building up a teacher only builds up the future leaders of the nation, as they call it,” he said.

Dr. Maxwell Ampong, during the second edition of the OuTS at the Accra College of Education on June 12, 2024, emphasised the importance of teachers in empowering individuals to reach their full potential and encouraged nationwide participation in the summit.

“I will say that the cardinal points that I am taking from here and what I just said in there are that teachers are those that allow us to become what we can be as opposed to what we are, what we ought to be, or what we were, so an event like the Outstanding Teachers Summit should be encouraged by everybody, the whole nation. I entrust everyone to chip in,” he remarked.

Dr. Ampong observed that through his professional interactions, he realised that parents prioritise children’s futures and that teachers are crucial in shaping them, adding that a nation that motivates teachers brings out the best in them, benefiting younger generations and propelling the country’s growth.

“So I learned something from dealing with my stakeholders in my business, which is that everybody is interested in the next generation; they are interested in their families moving forward, which is why I said that teachers are the ones that make our children who they are. If a teacher sits back and decides and does just barely minimum, it affects the whole nation, but imagine a whole nation with motivated teachers who are interested in making sure that children are developed to the maximum of their capacity that actually becomes the most or the best that they can be. It helps the entire nation, and this summit is that it throws a light on a group of people within the nation, which are teachers whom yes, we hear about every now and then, but not enough. I don’t think teachers are spoken about enough, and this summit is a drop in the ocean of the noise we need to make about teachers.”

He commended the convener of the programme, Stella Gyimaah Larbi, an educationist and consultant who was also adjudged the National Best Teacher for 2022.

The summit’s goal, according to Madam Larbi, is to close the gap between academia and industry by giving teachers a forum to showcase their work while offering students access to opportunities.