The Western Regional President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers ( NAGRAT), Justin Nelson, says, the strike action by the three Teacher Unions will be in full force until government rescinds its decision on the appointment of Dr. Eric Nkansah as the new Director General of the Ghana Education Service.
According to Mr. Nelson, it is unlawful for an individual with a different background to preside over the educational sector, and describes the move as putting square pegs in round holes.
“We don’t have a problem with the government appointing anyone to occupy a position in the Service. There are rules and regulations government needs to consider giving appointments. You don’t just get up to appoint any person to head an oorganizationwith qualified members.
We will carry on with the strike till his appointment is revoked, and a qualified person is appointed who wants his appointment.” He mentioned.
Three Teacher Unions namely NAGRAT, CCT and GNAT have withdrawn their services since Friday, November 4, 2022, in agitation for the appointment of a new Director General.
Mr. Nelson mentioned that the GES has a laid down procedure for appointing its leaders. In his view, teachers have not been accorded the needed respect basing his argument on the appointment of Dr. Eric Nkansah as the Director General of the Service.
Dr. Eric Nkansah is a Ghanaian, who has the right to occupy any position but we want to ensure that the right things are done. GES has competent staff who can equally serve in the position of the Director-General, and the Public Service Commission law also backs this. An organisation must search for the right person and submit the name to the President for approval. You don’t go behind this organisation and select whoever you want. The underlying factor is, teachers are not respected.
The questions, we are asking are, does he have a qualification in education or is he a professional teacher? If government wants to appoint anyone, the Ghana Education Service Council should be aware .
We want to put things right,” Nelson stated.
A Labour Expert Austin Gamey has described as unfortunate the growing agitation in the education sector.
He asked government to take steps as quickly as possible to address the issue.
He further says it will be in the interest of government to reassign Dr. Nkansah otherwise, he might not get the cooperation needed to work efficiently.
” Even if the employer forces and keeps him there, I’m not too sure he will get the cooperation of everybody. If I were him, maybe I would sit back at the Ministry of Education and will wait and have the matter resolved.
But in the meantime, it looks as if the employer thinks that they have the right to employ and so they want to ensure that they implement that decision. I’m not too sure the gentleman is going to get cooperation from the Union,” He stated.
