Fifteen Teachers “Sacked” From Tamale Girls SHS

Prof. Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang, Min. Edu.

The coming to end of the four-year policy of Senior High School (SHS) education introduced by the erstwhile government of the new patriotic party some few years ago, has led to the release of fifteen subject teachers at the Tamale Girls SHS in the Northern Region of Ghana on the basis of overstaffing.

The recent unfortunate development has caused some form of discomfort among teachers and the entire students body whereas the affected teachers who had been asked to look for jobs in other schools with vacancies, also blaming educational authorities at the Ghana Education Service (GES). 

In a six-page petition to the Director-General of the GES and copied to Savannahnews, the fifteen teachers said in block letters “WE WOULD LIKE TO EMPHATICALLY STATE THAT WE ARE NOT BITTER AND DO NOT INTEND TO CHALLENGE THE DECISION OF THE AUTHORITIES CONCERNED.”

It continued “however, we would want you to use your good office to intervene and ensure that the right thing is done for the sake of posterity. We believe our release is undue, unprofessional, unfair and not according to the rules and regulations binding the GES and its employees and for that matter the mother law; the 1992 constitution of Ghana.”

Furthermore, the petition among other things stated “….if our release is based on national policy, then it is unfortunate because the policy makers should have foreseen the challenges associated with the change in the threshold from four to three years SHS and its attendant problems.”

Signed by their Spokesperson Prosper Napare, the petition also said the teachers released had multiple responsibilities and majority of those maintained were “bob no ranks”, adding “It is simply outrageous for more than fifteen teachers to be released at a go from one school on the grounds of overstaffing when the actually overstaffed subject areas are maintained.”

According to the petition, the GES violated the rights of the fifteen teachers per Articles 15, 17, 19, 24 and 191 under the country’s labour law stipulated in the 1992 constitution as well as section 5 and part 4 of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) Conditions and Scheme of Service and the Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers respectively.

Fortunately for these teachers, they would continue to receive their salaries pending when they find jobs in any school they each desire to teach and duly inform the office of the Tamale Metropolitan Directorate of the GES about it, this reporter learnt. 

Meanwhile, at the time of going to press Savannahnews gathered that, several teachers in other second cycle schools in the Northern, Upper West and the southern parts of the country had also been released to go and search for jobs in other schools with vacancies for teachers.