GES recruitment of teachers commendable

The unemployment situation in the country is still worrying, in spite of the government’s initiatives to reduce it and the social interventions to cushion the effects of the situation.

Ghana is not alone in facing unemployment challenges, and like many other countries, both in Africa and elsewhere, the impact of the situation on the economic sector is dire and needs urgent attention.

For this reason, any attempt to deal with this national problem cannot be taken for granted. That is why the Ghana Education Service (GES), and for that matter the Ministry of Education (MOE), needs to be commended for recruiting, within a relatively short period of three years, as many as 66,357 newly trained teachers and non-teaching staff.

Under a limited recruitment exercise during the 2017-2018 academic year, 19,640 people were recruited, while 14,720 newly trained teachers from the colleges of education were recruited, with about 3,000 of them coming from the private colleges of education.

In the 2018-2019 academic year, 8,872 teachers were recruited for the double-track senior high school system, while the GES went for clearance for 1,445 non-teaching staff and recruited 14,500 teachers from the colleges of education.

Additionally, in collaboration with the Youth Employment Agency, the service has recruited 7,730 non-teaching staff to augment security and kitchen staff. All together, that brings the number to 66,000 plus.

In view of the unemployment situation in the country, recruiting such high numbers into the GES is a very commendable effort. We also note with satisfaction that the GES has already secured the necessary financial clearance which will enable it to pay the newly recruited employees on time.

The Daily Graphic wishes to add that if other agencies and ministries could follow the example set by the GES and the MoE, it will go a long way to help ease the unemployment burden.

The unemployment gap is scary, but we are certainly convinced that if we get our act together, while all hands are brought on deck, the unemployment situation could be reasonably brought under control.

Furthermore, the Daily Graphic would like to appeal to the newly employed teachers to honour their postings by reporting promptly to the places where they have been posted.

They must not exert pressure on the authorities to change postings. Indeed, it is our view that no changes must be entertained by the GES, since the places the teachers have been posted to need their services most.

After all, the GES is a service and it posts employees to places where their services are most needed. If we want to develop this nation wholly, then it is incumbent on everybody to play his or her part fully.

We would also like to applaud the 2018 group of newly trained teachers for having had the patience to go through their national service and write the licensure examination.

Indeed, they have done well by submitting themselves to the training discipline.

In the past, the arrangement was that when a trainee completed a college of education and passed his/her examination, the person was absorbed straight into the GES. But last year, as part of the requirements for tertiary institutions, it became mandatory that when teacher trainees completed school, they need to do a one-year service.

As part of the requirements to license teachers, the GES also got them to do the licensure examination. So those who passed the school examination went on to do their national service, and those who have passed the licensure examination are those whose postings are out.

It is our hope that the National Teaching Council, the GES and the MoE will work so hard to sustain what they have done, so that we will always have quality teachers for quality education.