GES/NTC Should Stop Preying On The Vulnerability Of Poor Job Seekers

Within the last few weeks running into the last few months, the Ghana Education Service(GES) and the National Teachers Council(NTC) have been using some dubious means to charge innocent job seekers some unwarranted moneys whose use have still not been accounted for.

Following the announcement of the president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the Ministry of Education to recruit about 8,000 more teachers to shore up the teaching strength of the various Senior High/Technical Schools in order to decrease the burden on teachers especially in this era of Double Track Free SHS system, the GES and the NTC have dubiously charged poor job seekers about three different types of moneys whose use – like I stated above – have still not been accounted for.

First was the decision of GES to charge all applicants an amount of GHc5.00 for the online application process for the registration. Suffice it to say, several of the applicants paid between GHC10 and GHC30 since for some reasons, the vouchers that were supposed to be released to the applicants upon the payment of their GHC5.00 using the various mobile telecommunication networks mobile money systems were in some cases not happening. This unfortunate situation forced a lot of the applicants to undergo through the process on several occasions, paying GHC5.00 at every occasion, in order to get their voucher to be able to login and apply.

This was then followed by the charging of the applicants whooping GHC220.00 each to write the licensure exams of the NTC. The many encumbrances surrounding this examination is a subject for discussion on another day.

As if these are not burdening enough, these poor applicants whom some have stayed in the house for several years woke up to a new circular under the signature of Ms. Cassadra Twum Ampofo released on a public holiday – the founders’ Day – asking the applicants to go to the GES website to pay for some GHC40.00 again to register for an aptitude test.

One question that is still begging for answers is that ‘where are all these monies going?’

Whiles I am not a mathematician and do not intend to do any calculations on all the moneys taking by these two institutions within these few days, a simple arithmetic of putting the number of applicants at say 10,000 and multiplying by their GHC5.00 application fees (and in some cases more) will give you a whooping GHC50,000.00. And GES is saying they cannot conduct exams with this money?

Why will any institution want to take advantage of desperate job seekers?

Whiles the Akufo-Addo government is doing everything possible to lessen the burden on Ghanaians in these hard times, some state institutions are also using some dubious means to over burden the poor, desperate Ghanaian.

I am therefore calling on GES to put an immediate hold on the GHC40.00 they are charging these innocent workers or reduce the amount involved drastically.

I am also calling on them to refund monies paid by some of the applicants for this exams back to them – if anybody has paid.

I am calling on the hardworking Auditor General to conduct a full scale audit into the expenditure of the GHC5.00 and GHC220.00 already charged by the GES and NTC.

I am calling on the investigative bodies such as the Economic and Organised Crime office (EOCO), the Criminal Investigative Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service and the Office of the Special Prosecutor to conduct full scale investigation into the activities of these two bodies that is warranting these charges.

And finally, I am calling on the ministry of education to step in and stop these two state institutions from going further to over burden poor Ghanaians.

The writer is a student of the School of Communication, University of Ghana and a Journalist.

Kwasi Frimpong
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Social Media: @fsayitright