Upon further investigation into the educational background of the newly appointed Director General Dr Eric Nkansah, it was found that he hold no qualification in the education sector and hence cannot become the Director General for the Ghana Education service.
The teacher unions made it known to the president that the newly appointed Director General is a banker by profession and hence doesn’t fit for the position he has been appointed for. The government has been silence on this matter because a professional teacher cannot be appointed as the Inspector General of Police(IGP) how then do you appointed a banker to be a director General, a square shape in a round hole.
The teacher unions met today to discuss this issue and afterwards this was the release letter they brought out, it reads:
We(Teacher Unions, GNAT, NAGRAT and CCT-Gh) welcome you all warmly to this press conference which marks our 4th November deadline on the appointment of a banker instead of Educationist as Director General of GES.
Today, we shall announce our next line of action on the termination of the appointment of the Director General of GES and subsequent appointment of a Banker as the New Director General. The issue which dominated the media space both print and electronic over the past fortnight or so.
A week ago, the Teacher Unions in the GES explained our mandate as been responsible for negotiating the terms and conditions of service, the scheme of service and the code of professional conduct for the teaching personnel of the Ghana Education service in accordance with the Collective Agreement 2020 which was signed between the Ghana Education Service on one hand and the other Teacher Unions on the other hand.
We indicated our candid view as provided for in section 2 of our collective agreement between GES and Teacher Unions (2020), which states that;
The purpose of this Agreement is to set forth the condition of service relating to salaries, wages, hours of work and other conditions of service and rule of employment. Both parties do recognize and agree to promote the growth and development of co operation, trust, respect and fairness and endeavor to uphold these virtues in their policies and standards of GES management.
The parties believe that these attitude can be encouraged best when it is made clear that employer and unions who were involved in the negotiation of this agreement were not anti-union or anti-management but were sincerely concerned with the best interest and well-being of the Ghana Education service and all teaching employees as well as creating an environment that provides satisfaction, incentives and motivation for hard work and thereby increase productivity.
It was from the background that we made our reaction known on the dismissal of the Director General of the Ghana Education service, and subsequent appointment of a banker as the Ag. Director General, contrary to the substantive and procedural rules of our collective Agreement 2020.
It must be stated that the Director General position is the preserve of Educationists and has been occupied by Educationist since its creation in 1974 to date. For the avoidance of doubt, seventeen (17) Director Generals have been appointed to serve at the GES. Out of this number, 5 were professors from Academia, who were known to have operated in the Education space. The rest were all higher officers of the GES and remained as such, even under the military regimes.
Therefore, the appointment of a Banker instead of Educationist is a manifestation of lack of confidence in Teachers to manage their own affairs and disregard to established scheme of Service and progression within the GES.
The teacher unions did not only register their protest but also, found it unacceptable for a Banker to be appointed as a Director General of the Ghana Education service, GES, instead of Educationist at a time when many teachers who did the same courses and related ones were rejected by GES because it is not related to education.
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