Jobless Graduate Teachers Lament GES Recruitment Discrimination

A group calling itself the Coalition of Unemployed Graduate Basic School Teachers, are unhappy with how teachers are recruited by the Ghana Education Service (GES).

According to the coalition, during recruitments, GES does not prioritize basic school teachers trained by the various universities.

The coalition says a trajectory of the employment module implored by the GES has instead been in favour of graduate teachers from the Colleges of Education.

The coalition believes that its members are qualified and competent to deliver on duties assigned them.

Mr. Johnson Baffoe Essilfie, the convener of the group, in an interview also called on the Ghana Education Service to release their postings immediately.

“From today, in case GES wants to post or recruit teachers, it should be on equal grounds prioritizing only those who have passed licensure exams and are competent. We are also asking that they release our postings immediately. They have been discriminating against us for quite a long time and whenever there are postings, their focus is only on those who went to College of Education at the disadvantage of those of us who went to the universities and did the same programme, passed our licensure exams and done our national service. There is no consideration for us and that's discriminatory because we are Ghanaians first and we have the qualification to be employed on the field so why then do they prioritize one institution at the expense of the other?” he asked.

Unemployed teacher trainees to be posted soon – Education Ministry

In a related story, the Ministry of Education has announced a limited placement for the 2018 batch of graduate teacher trainees who have not been posted.

Some members of the group were arrested in January 2020 by the Ministries Police for illegally picketing at the premises of the Ghana Education Service to demand postings.

The Public Relations Officer of the Ministry, Ekow Vincent Assafuah said his outfit was also working to get financial clearance for the teachers.

“As we speak, the Ghana Education Service is working tirelessly to get financial clearance from the Ministry of Finance to do a limited replacement for these teachers.”

He further indicated that without the clearance from the Finance Ministry, the teachers cannot be posted or engaged.

---citinewsroom