Strengthen partnership with GES - Prof. Oduro charges teacher unions

The Technical Adviser to the Minister of Education, Prof. George K.T. Oduro, has called on teacher unions to strengthen their partnership with the Ghana Education Service (GES) in the delivery of quality education.

Without such a partnership, he said, there would be a vacuum that could endanger education sustainability.

“I further urge teacher unions, particularly the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), to strengthen their partnership with GES as it journeys towards the next 50 years (2026 -2076). 

Disagreements

“While disagreements are inevitable, the service provides the official interface through which teachers’ concerns are addressed and welfare policies negotiated. 

“Without GES, dialogue between the government and the teaching profession would lose its institutional anchor, creating a vacuum that could endanger educational stability,” he emphasised.

Prof. Oduro said this in the keynote address at the 7th Quadrennial (54th) National Delegates Conference of GNAT in Accra.

It was on the theme: “Education and development: GES @50: Reflecting, reviewing, revising and growing the profession and the unions”.

Prof. Oduro said celebrating GES @50 was not merely about recognising an institution’s longevity but that it was about acknowledging the beautiful, long-lasting partnership between GES and the teacher, between governance and pedagogy, between structure and values.

The GNAT-GES collaboration, he said, should prioritise research and evidence-driven decision-making. 

He said GNAT, through its vast membership, possessed an untapped reservoir of classroom experiences and insights. 

Policy

“When these are systematically documented and analysed, they can inform GES policy directions in curriculum design, assessment and teacher motivation.

“Together, GES and GNAT can establish a joint research and innovation unit dedicated to generating evidence-based solutions to the sector’s challenges,” he said.

Prof. Oduro said the GES remained the central nervous system of Ghana’s pre-tertiary education and that it ensured policy coherence across thousands of schools and millions of learners scattered throughout the country. 

The service, he said, served as the institutional memory of Ghana’s educational evolution.

“It is the custodian of pedagogical experiences, the repository of curricular reforms and the operational engine of our teacher management systems.

“GES stands as a living archive for what has worked, what has failed and what must never be repeated. I, therefore, urge stakeholders to support the Service as it provides an essential buffer between politics and pedagogy,” he said. 

Change

“Let’s be reminded that when governments change, policies may shift, but the classrooms continue to function because GES technocrats maintain institutional continuity.

He said dedicating the conference to GES@50 was a demonstration of GNAT’s recognition of the pivotal role the GES had played as a partner in implementing educational policies and promoting teacher professionalism over the past 50 years. 

He said it signified GNAT’s acknowledgement of the indispensable partnership role of GES in the process of growing the teacher as a professional.

Prof. Oduro indicated that “as we celebrate the 50th milestone of the GES, let’s think through how our education has shaped and continues to shape the trajectory of our national development.

Let’s also interrogate the very structures, systems and philosophies that have guided the GES through its half-century of existence.”