ASSIN South District branch of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has chided the Ghana Education Service (GES) for refusing to process and upgrade documents of teachers in the area who have completed their last professional programmes through distance and sandwich education.
According to them, members from the district who completed their education from 2011-2014 and were due for upgrading to the rank of Principal Superintendent have been excluded from promotion while other districts have.
They added that even those who completed their professional diploma programmes and were promoted to Senior Superintendent Grade II rank as far back as 2011 were yet to be promoted to Principal Superintendent.
These concerns were raised by the Assin South District Chairman of the Association, Mr. Rockson Boateng, during their 5th Quadrennial Delegates’ conference held at Assin Damang in the Assin South District of the Central Region recently.
The conference, which was on the theme: “Transforming Society through Education; Strategies To Achieving Agenda 2030,” was their maiden one after the district was created and inaugurated on April 21, 2015.
The chairman intimated that they were of hope that after GES Council had reported to the GNAT’s national council’s meeting last year on the lack of eligible personnel to apply for the position of Director Grade One and above, policies would have been put in place to curtail it by encouraging more young teachers to further their studies in order to go through the ranks early but the situation was different in Assin South district.
He described the GES as assuming a ‘dictatorial and capricious’ posture in dealing with members of GNAT instead of following legal procedures in regulating their relationship.
“Instructional drivers must be allowed to drive instructional activities. This will help teachers to make instructional decisions in the classroom and also bring professionalism to the teaching profession,” he stated.
Mr. Boateng pointed out that GES continues to employ non-professional teachers on condition that within five years of their employment they will obtain professional certificates or lose their jobs, and questioned if these unprofessional teachers will be upgraded after pursuing a four- year professional Bachelors programme through distance or sandwich education.
“I just want to know the effective dates for upgrading teachers in the district since their colleagues and even juniors in other districts have been upgraded,” he asked.
Join GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.
