Prof. Ernest Kofi Davis
The Ghana Education Service (GES) has backtracked on its decision to terminate the appointment and recruitment of all teaching and non-teaching staff who were yet to be placed on the government payroll.
Management of Ghana Education Service, in a U-turn decision, has requested all affected staff to have their recruitment validated and reinstated in order to clean up the database of all recruited staff on the GES payroll.
To this effect, GES has set up a three-member committee in all regions, comprised of the Regional Human Resource Officer, Regional Internal Auditor and Regional Accountant to lead the validation process.
The Acting Director-General of GES, Prof. Ernest Kofi Davis, in a letter to Regional Directors of Education, urged staff affected by the termination to make available certain documents to support the validation exercise.
These include their Appointment Letter, Academic Certificate, Licensure Certificate and National Service Certificate.
The letter added that “The affected staff are expected to go through the validation process by 14th March, 2025. The management of GES counts on your cooperation to make this exercise successful.”
The decision by the GES to terminate the appointment and recruitment of all teaching and non-teaching staff drew public outcry and condemnation, at a time when youth unemployment continues to be one of Ghana’s main concerns.
The Minority in Parliament and a cross-section of Ghanaians have criticised the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government for the termination and other job losses, pointing to the party’s campaign promise of creating jobs for the teeming youth.
The GES, in a directive dated February 17, 2025, and directed at the top rank of GES, had indicated that the terminations took immediate effect and was in line with an earlier directive issued by the Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, which terminated all recruitments made after December 7, 2024.
“Pursuant to the letter dated 10th February, 2025 with reference No (number) SCR/DA/85/01/A on the above subject from the office of the President, I wish to inform you that all recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff who have not been placed on the payroll yet, have been terminated with immediate effect in accordance with the Chief of Staff’s directive,” the GES letter pointed out.
GES added that the Directors of Education at the various levels would be notified of any further directive concerning this issue as and when necessary.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak