The All Teachers Alliance Ghana (ATAG) has emphasized that the work of the appointed Director General for the Ghana Education Service (GES) goes beyond education and curriculum.

According to the group, it is time for teachers to focus on issues that can improve the state of their profession rather than those that only benefit a small group of privileged individuals. It stated that teachers must rather highlight the “malfeasance and self-serving motivations” behind NAGRAT, GNAT and CCT’s proclaimed strike.

Contained in a statement signed by the General Secretary of ATAG, Albert Dadson Amoah, it underscored that the new DG’s lack of expertise in education is cited as the primary justification for the alleged strike. Justifying its stance, the group noted that the teachers unions continue to “dodge the topic” when questioned on who an educationist.

“The work of the DG has been automatically degraded by the unions into theory and practice or pedagogy and curriculum. What then qualifies a pedagogue as a qualified individual to handle GES administrative tasks? Again, in line with the Unions’ justification, this implies that even the least qualified teacher could carry out the duties of the DG. If the DG’s job could be performed in this manner with such ease, then we would not require any additional qualifications to be considered for selection.”
ATAG

ATAG per Cambridge Dictionary, defined an educationist as a person who has a special knowledge of the principles and methods of teaching. By this, it explained that the Unions’ position becomes problematic and inconsistent if the definition is accepted as their position.

Commenting on the rejection of the appointment of Dr Eric Nkansah as GES Director General, based on which labour unions have commenced a strike action, ATAG stated that anyone who is intelligent and has a solid foundation in technical knowledge and skill could carry out the same task.

Justification of labour unions strike

The Alliance highlighted that it is unsure of exactly where GNAT and the other striking unions’ interests lie if the administrative tasks cannot be successfully carried out by someone who has experience working as a bank administrator, lecturer and director of tertiary education at the Ministry of Education.

“It is depressing that teachers must submit to this feeble justification to engage in strike action. This, in our opinion, is unjustified and uncalled for. Strike action must be supported by more proof than a trivial appointment, and union leaders must not give us any cause to think otherwise.”
ATAG

ATAG expressed that once the teacher unions realized that their strike was “unnecessary and counterproductive”, they quickly distributed information to their members, claiming to have consulted them and including other concerns that ATAG voiced. This, it explained, raises significant doubts regarding the veracity of the strike and the motivation behind it.

“Although we have no trouble critiquing appointments, teacher unions shouldn’t be driven to only call for strikes with pointless demands.”
ATAG

Elaborating on its stance, ATAG noted that the DG’s achievement is a team effort and not an individual endeavour and it’s therefore unable to object to the DG’s appointment because he has not yet started working and it’s unsure of his value.

Owing to this, ATAG urged the teacher unions to choose another route in their pursuit of hearings and redress, to halt the “knee-jerk strike” and to at the very least, treat teachers with dignity. It further emphasized the need for the unions to apologize to their members for launching a strike that dampens rather than energizes them.