Misplaced Teachers, Misplaced Future: A Silent Crisis In Ghana's Education System

After five years of combined experience as a teacher and mobile money operator, I have encountered a deeply troubling reality—one that silently points to a structural failure in our educational system.

The Shocking Numeracy Gap

Every day at my mobile money outlet, I interact with customers from various educational backgrounds. Yet, it is alarming how many—including tertiary graduates—struggle to interpret basic figures. A transaction of GHC 101.00 is often misunderstood as “one hundred and ten Ghana cedis.” When the numbers stretch to four or five digits, the confusion becomes even more pronounced.

This is not merely a numeracy issue. It is the manifestation of a broader educational defect that begins in the classroom and is reinforced through systemic neglect.

How Did We Get Here?

A significant contributing factor is the way teachers are posted and assigned subjects in our schools.

In many basic schools across Ghana, you will find teachers without any mathematics background handling the subject. Initially, these placements are explained as temporary responses to staffing gaps. However, over time, these temporary fixes become permanent fixtures.

When a professionally trained mathematics teacher is eventually posted to the school, they are often relegated to lower classes—such as Kindergarten or Primary 1—while unqualified teachers cling to the subject they've grown familiar with, even if they lack the foundation to teach it effectively.

This misplacement does not just dilute the quality of education. It deepens students’ fear of mathematics, damages their confidence, and limits their numeracy skills—skills that are essential for financial literacy, business, and everyday life.

A Systemic Misalignment

The Ghana Education Service (GES) must take full responsibility for the current practice of assigning teachers to subjects without reference to their area of specialization. This approach undermines the integrity of our basic education system and wastes the very expertise the state has invested in developing.

If a company recruits an electrical engineer and assigns them to do masonry work while asking a carpenter to wire a building, disaster is inevitable. The same principle applies in our schools: mismatched roles produce poor outcomes.

The Way Forward

It is time for an urgent policy review and systemic overhaul in the way teachers are placed and assigned. The GES must implement a clear strategy that ensures:

1. Subject-specialist teachers are used where their training is most needed.
2. Temporary placements are monitored and revised when qualified personnel are available.
3. School heads are held accountable for inappropriate subject assignments.

Furthermore, stakeholder advocacy—including civil society organizations, teacher unions, and parent associations—must push for reforms that prioritize quality teaching over convenience.

Conclusion

Ghana cannot build a robust, literate, and financially competent generation while compromising the foundation of learning—the classroom. Teacher misplacement is not just a human resource issue; it is a national development concern. If we care about the future, we must start by getting the basics right.

Eric Asamoah is an educationist, school administrator, and mobile money operator. He writes from Agona East.

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