Teacher Trainees Turn Down NSS Postings

Newly-trained teachers have served notice they will reject national service postings.

In a statement on Tuesday, 4 September, Ekow Paintsil Djan, immediate-past National Deputy General Secretary of the Teacher Trainees Association of Ghana (TTAG), noted that government intends to veer off from the normal practice where newly-trained teachers are posted as professionals to their various stations to start teaching immediately after school.

“We will resist any attempt by government to post newly-trained teachers as national service personnel,” he said in the statement.

He added that: “Just like doctors, teachers are posted to the field of work as professional teachers and not service personnel, and, so, we want this status quo to be maintained. The government should do well to post newly-trained teachers as soon as possible.”

Regarding the licensure examinations introduced by the National Teaching Council (NTC), Mr Painstil said the teachers are willing to partake in the examination, however, the NTC must consider all the issues that have been raised.

According to him, the NTC is aware of all the issues that have been raised hence, the teachers expect that these matters will be dealt with accordingly.

“We do not object to the fact that teachers should be licensed but we call on the NTC to put out necessary measures in place to prevent people from failing the licensure exams since most people haven’t prepared and materials are also not made available to them,” he said.