The journalist who wrote the story about a teacher being rewarded with a standing fan for walking 42 kilometers to school has responded to critics of the story.
The journalist, Eliasu Mohammed Tanko, was reacting to the social media backlash the story suffered, especially with some of his colleague journalists accusing him of engaging in “conveyor-belt journalism”.
A journalist, Justuice Baidoo, critiqued the story in a Facebook post, saying “Conveyor-belt journalism is what leads to stories like teachers walking 42 Kilometers to school in 2017 Ghana. The worst is yet to come when this upside-down journalism finally explodes”.
But in his response to the criticisms, Mr. Tanko said his interest was in the reward for the teacher because he knew the state of the roads in the Tolon District where the teacher teaches.
“At this point, let me say that, writing the story, I was emphasizing on the reward though I know that there is no “road” anywhere in the district leading to the community. There are only deplorable “paths” and the popular route to the Warvi community is through communities in the Kumbungu district.” He wrote as a reply to Mr. Baidoo’s post.
According to him, he was equally alarmed by the teacher’s assertion when he interviewed him after the reward.
“He told me it was extremely challenging and went ahead to give numerous reasons. He talked about lack of accommodation and said he travelled 42km every day to school. I got alarmed and asked “really”?, and he responded “yes i walk 42km to school” [sic].
Eliasu says he has plans to get back to the teacher for further clarifications on the “walk” statement.
“I have scheduled an interview for him to clarify the “walk” statement. Thank you.”, he added in his post.
Background
News broke last Wednesday on some online news portals that a teacher had been rewarded with a standing fan Tolon District of the Northern Region.
The fan, according to the reports, was “a mark of appreciation by the authorities of the District Assembly during Tuesday’s Independence Day Celebration.”
The award was presented by the District Director of Education, Reverend Georgina Anaaba Norga to the teacher, Awudu Kombian, who has been serving as the only teacher for the Warvi D/A Primary School for several academic years.
The reports added that Mr. Kombian traveled 42 kilometres to school to teach the pupils for and also doubled as a headmaster who performed other tasks hence the school was closed whenever he fell ill or traveled.
Eliasu Mohammed Tanko’s full response
“The MC at that event had said the district was going to award best teachers for their various roles in the education sector in the area. He mentioned this particular teacher and praised that he had been headmaster at the same time teacher of a school. About three teachers emerged to line up for their awards.
And then they rewarded them with standing fans. A female teacher among them took away medium seized food flask. After the donations, I approached this teacher and requested for an interview. Two things; I wanted to know how challenging it was to be a headmaster at same time teach in rural Ghana. Secondly, wanted to know how feels about the reward.
He told me it was extremely challenging and went ahead to give numerous reasons. He talked about lack of accomdation and said he travelled 42km every day to school. I got alarmed and asked “really”?, and he responded “yes i walk 42km to school”.
At this point, let me say that, writing the story, I was emphasising on the reward though I know that there is no “road” anywhere in the district leading to the community. There are only deplorable “paths” and the popular routh to the Warvi community is through communities in the Kumbungu district. I have scheduled an interview for him to clarify the “walk” statement. Thank you.”
The post that elicited the response
Journalist who wrote “ teacher walks 42km” story speaks
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