GES promotion exams slated for February 20-21

All is set for the commencement of the promotion aptitude test of qualified staff of the Ghana Education Service (GES) slated for February 20-21, 2020.

A total of about 47,323 GES staff will be participating in the two-day promotion test at 48 centres throughout the country.

Briefing the Daily Graphic on the preparations so far, the Director-General of the service, Prof. Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, explained that management had put everything in place for the smooth take-off and completion of the examination.

Dates

He said candidates applying for Assistant Director Two (AD II) would be writing their examination on February 20, 2020, while those applying for the rank of Principal Superintendent (PS), Assistant Director One (AD I) and Deputy Director (DD) would have theirs on February 21, 2020.

Expectation from candidates

“Candidates will receive SMS with their information for the test, which will also indicate the time for the commencement of the examination.

“All the candidates will be issued with index numbers which must be used on the testing document,” the Director-General announced.

He said all the candidates had been directed to arrive at their respective centres at least an hour before the test started, adding that such candidates should bring along a valid photographic national identity (ID).

“Candidates should also bring along original copies of their last promotion or upgrade letters, and original certificates in the case of those who qualify based on their master’s degree,” he added.

Consultation

He said the review had been done after extensive deliberations and consultations with key stakeholders, with the approval of the GES Council and in accordance with regulations of the Public Services Commission (PSC).

Prof. Opoku-Amankwa said the new promotion process was being introduced for a good reason — to ensure that the about 35,000 GES staff who applied for promotion every year went through the process fairly, transparently and based on competence.

Background

The switch to aptitude tests for promotion has been necessitated by the large number of petitions the GES received every year from teachers which entailed performance appraisals and interviews used for promotions but allegedly fraught with victimisation and corruption.

Applicants for 2019

Last year, 47,323 applicants submitted documentation for promotion, the Director-General disclosed, adding that the applicants were yet to attend interviews in that regard.

He gave the breakdown as follows: 4,413 for the rank of Deputy Director, 10,724 for Assistant Director I, 26,876 for Assistant Director II, 3,816 for Principal Superintendent, while 1,494 applied for non-teaching ranks.

He said every year, “the GES sets up about 150 panels across the country, with each panel having five members”.

Each panel interviewed eight people a day, according to PSC regulations, and they worked for three to six months to finish the process for all applicants, he added.

Petitions

“Meanwhile, every year, the GES receives almost a thousand petitions on promotions, all levelled against GES staff in the district, regional and national headquarters, as well as interview panels across the country,” he said.

Prof. Opoku-Amankwa explained that the petitions included allegations of victimisation and corruption, explaining that apart from the complaints, the process was tedious and expensive.

“Based on these and many other reasons, the GES management, in June last year, initiated the move to reform the promotion process within the confines of PSC guidelines.

“The details and input into the new process have been agreed on with teacher unions and accepted by the GES Council,” he added.