The Africa Education Watch has iterated the need for the striking teacher unions and the government to draw consensus on the appointment of Dr. Eric Nkansah as the Director General of Ghana Education Service (GES).
In an interview on 3FM Sunrise Morning Show, Kofi Asare observed that the teacher unions have a legitimate concern and the government also has a legitimate concern. It is important for the two parties to have a consensus and I am happy they are now in discussion. However, the discussion should have been done two weeks ago but unfortunately started on the day one of the strike.
“I would advise that broader consultations are done at the council level and that would help avert such challenges with the appointment of GES Director General” Kofi Asare stated
Three teacher unions namely; Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), and Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT) commenced an industrial action on Friday 4 November, 2022 to enforce their rejection of Dr. Eric Nkansah as the Director General of the Ghana Education Service.
Also, in his response to the issue of how the high cost of living is impacting on teaching and learning especially with the increasing rate of truancy, Mr. Asare expressed worry that about six hundred thousand (600,000) vulnerable students who are supposed to benefit from the school feeding program have been denied that because their feeding budget has been sacrificed on the back of government cutting down expenditure.
Mr. Kofi Asare argues that the government should rather cut down on the discretionary expenditure such as the establishment of secretariats for all its flagship programs. Kofi Asare further identified the special consultants, assistants and secretaries as some of the things that could be forfeited in the government’s bid to cut down on expenditure.
By Samuel Afriyie Owusu|3news.com|Ghana