Corruption Scare At Ghana Education Service

A group of teachers has accused some officials of the Ghana Education Service, (GES) of taking bribe and filling the list of teachers approved for study leave with their favourites.

According to the aggrieved teachers, some unqualified people bribe their way through at the expense of more qualified ones.

"Teachers, who fall outside the criteria of selection, bribe some members of study leave approval committee to have their way through at the expense of the more qualified ones. Some teachers claim they paid ¢800,000, others said ¢600,000 to pave their way through. According to them much of the job is done at the computer room where people's names are replaced with less qualified names. In fact, this act needs to be discouraged through your media", a letter sent by the aggrieved teachers to Public Agenda said.

But officials at the head office of GES have denied the allegations, insisting that the selection process is strictly done in accordance with policy guidelines. The Assistant Public Relations Director of GES, Mr. Paul Kofi Krampah told Public Agenda that the criteria for selection include a number of years in service and subjects on high demand with consideration given to people from deprived areas.

He explained that the GES Council comes out with the provisional list after consultation with its partners which are distributed to all the regions after which a supplementary list to fill in the provisional one is also issued.

Krampa said the service does not do the selection solely, but in consultation with its partners, such as, the Ghana National Association of Teachers, (GNAT), and its regional directors of education.

He said the quota for each period is based on the requirement from the regions, with mathematics, English and science on high demand. The current quota stands at 3000, although the volume of applications ranges 10,000 to 20,000.

Krampa revealed that some tertiary institutions like the University College of Education, Winneba, offer access courses to some teachers, which often lead to subsequent admission.

He described as unfortunate the notion by some of these teachers that they are entitled to study leave with pay by the service, even though they do not go through the formal study leave application process.

'There is no nepotism, and there is no bribery in the study leave application process. No one can tamper with anything at the computer room. The service is adhering strictly to the guidelines' he stated adding that applying for a study does not automatically qualify a teacher to go on study leave.