Teacher Trainees Association of Ghana (TTAG) is protesting vehemently against the Ministry of Education’s decision to have graduated teachers enrolled on the National Service Scheme.
They say the Ministry has betrayed them and has not been fair to them. Just last week the association met with the ministry and agreed to meet the National Service Secretariat and Ghana Education Service for deliberations.
Speaking in an interview with Ekourba Gyasi on Atinka AM Drive, former General Secretary of TTAG, Ekow Paintsil Gyan, explained that trainees had started their online registration for postings as directed by Ghana Education Service.
But the Ministry has truncated the process and ordered that the names be given to the National Service Secretariat for them to be enrolled onto the scheme. That, he described as “unfair” to them.
According to him, the decision by the Ministry is quite unusual as the Ministry together with GES has introduced four teaching reforms to set up national teaching standards for pre-service teachers. These are teachers who have not been to the teaching fields.
The ministry also seeks to develop a new curriculum, convert Colleges of Education to university status and review Colleges of Education Act, Act 847. Ekow Paintsil suggestS that the ministry should rather be concentrating on these reforms.
Meanwhile, leadership of TTAG has also met with the hierarchy of the scheme and registered their displeasure about the decision to do national service.
And that in the course of their training, they do more than national service. All teacher trainees do compulsory one-year out programme in various schools. Thereafter, they work for one-year probation before they receive due benefits.
However, the National Service Secretariat has responded to the lamentations of the Teacher Trainees. Public Relations Officer of NSS, David Prah, clarified that the decision is not an imposition on the teachers but a legal requirement by law which ought to be adhered to.
David Prah mentioned that the National Service Act, Act 426 mandates that any person who has completed an accredited tertiary institution and is between the ages of 18 to 40 years must engage in national service.
The Act demands “mandatory National Service” and that Section 7 of the National Service Act, says anybody who is between the ages mentioned should not be employed.
Ghana | Atinkaonline.com | Patrick Ofoe Nudzi
