Madam Alberta Ohenewa Awuku, a Presbyter of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG), Redemption Congregation, Tema Community Nine, has called on parents, teachers, churches and communities to work together to raise children who are academically competent and morally upright.
Madam Awuku said education should go beyond the acquisition of academic certificates to include character development, responsible citizenship and the application of knowledge to solve societal problems.
She made the call while preaching during Education Sunday on the theme “Celebrating Our Heritage: Building on the Foundation Already Laid – Expanding the Frontiers of Education with the Gospel.”
She emphasised that children learnt not only from what adults told them but, more importantly, from their actions, urging parents to demonstrate honesty, respect, diligence and prayerfulness in their daily lives.
“Education cannot be left entirely to the school. The school, the home, the church and the community must work together,” she said.
Madam Awuku commended members of the congregation who brought their children to church activities and encouraged parents to take a more active role in their children’s upbringing and education.
She also urged teachers to recognise their responsibility as builders of lives, saying their influence extended beyond classroom instruction to shaping students’ attitudes, values and conduct.
She noted that teaching mathematics helped develop discipline and problem-solving skills, while English supported effective communication and Ghanaian languages helped preserve the country’s cultural identity.
Teachers, she said, must serve as positive role models because students observed their behaviour, including how they treated others, demonstrated fairness and practised honesty.
Madam Awuku challenged students to view education as an opportunity to serve humanity rather than merely a means of securing employment or personal advancement.
She urged them to consider the problems they could solve and the lives they could improve with the knowledge and skills they acquired.
“Let us build people, not certificates,” she said, calling for graduates who would not only seek opportunities but also create them and use their expertise to improve their communities.
She said the Christian gospel provided a moral foundation to help young people navigate challenges such as peer pressure, temptation, failure, unemployment, corruption and difficult life choices.
Drawing lessons from the biblical account of the two builders, she stressed the importance of building one’s life on Jesus Christ as the rock to withstand life’s challenges.
Madam Awuku further called on the church and its members to support the expansion of educational opportunities, particularly in rural communities, through the provision of infrastructure, computers and other learning resources.
She urged the church to embrace technology, science and artificial intelligence in its educational mission to ensure that pupils in rural areas also benefited from modern teaching and learning approaches.
She said the Presbyterian Church of Ghana had a responsibility to preserve the educational legacy established by earlier generations while making deliberate efforts to improve access to quality education.
Madam Awuku paid tribute to the pioneers who established Presbyterian schools, teachers who had served generations of learners, and parents who had made sacrifices to educate their children.
She urged the current generation to build on that legacy by expanding educational infrastructure, pursuing excellence and ensuring that Christian values remained central to the educational process.
“Education gives knowledge, but the gospel gives direction. Education develops the mind, but the gospel shapes character,” she said.
She called on Christians to lead Christ-like lives, serve their communities and contribute to an educational system that produced academically competent, morally upright graduates committed to the common good.
GNA
