Education activist from the Kintampo North, Owusu Adjei has urged critics especially the teachers unions fighting against the appointment of Dr. Eric Nkansah, the Acting Director General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) to come out clear which basis they are objecting to the appointment.

According to him, the mode of appointment of the Director General Of Ghana Education Service remains the prerogative of the President as stated clearly in Article 195 of the 1992 constitution.

In a statement, he said "Is it the case of looking for a "soft" person they can ride over or a case of looking for a "right" person for the role of the Director General?.

"The Pre-Tertiary Education Act, 2020 Act 1049, in no ambiguous term spells out clearly the Membership of the Ghana Education Service of which "any other person employed for the Education Service is included. The Ghana Education Service consists of Teaching and non-teaching staffs of which some occupies the position of financial controller, Chief Internal Auditor etc in the Ghana Education Service".

"The union leaders should know better, that the scheme of service and progression in the Ghana Education Service ends at Director 1".

"It is therefore absolutely wrong for the teacher unions to create a wrong impression that, the progression of teachers or members of the Ghana Education Service will automatically end at Director General".

He continues that "Again it's absolutely unfathomable if not completely wrong for the teacher unions to say Dr. Eric Nkansah is not an Educationist and admit that people from the Accademia have assumed the role of the Director General in the past. Is Dr. Eric Nkansah not in the academia?.

"For Christ sake, Dr. Eric Nkansah has over 15 years of experience in academia and education policy administration, the exact function of the Director General and has also served on many governing councils in the Education Service notably at Koforidua Technical University, St. Louis College of Education etc".

"The teacher unions can not approbate and reprobate by saying they are against the removal of Prof. Opoku- Amankwaa on his secondment at the Ghana Education Service but against the extension of contract of Lawyer Anthony Boateng and experienced Educationist".

"In my candid opinion I strongly think the archaic way of doing things in the Ghana Education Service "me baa yɛ akyɛ" to outwit I have been here for long and not on ones expertise has outlived its usefulness in the Ghana Education Service hence my strong conviction that, the Ministry of Education and the President did not err by appointing Dr. Eric Nkansah as the Acting Director General of the Ghana Education Service and therefore has to be confirmed" the statement underscored.

Profile

Dr. Eric Nkansah started as a teacher in the year 2000 at Christian Education Complex Junior High School (JHS), Kintampo, in the Bono East Region of Ghana.

After two years with Christian Education Complex, he got a rare opportunity to teach Geography part-time at Kintampo Senior High School. Even when he started his studies at the University of Cape Coast in 2002, he continued to teach Geography during vacations between 2002-2006.

After his National Service with the National Health Insurance Scheme, he joined Barclays Bank of Ghana (now Absa) in 2007, where he worked for about six years and rose to the position of Sales Manager. In 2010, while working with the bank, he lectured part-time at the Business School of Garden City University College, Kumasi.

In 2012, he finally left the bank and took up a full-time lecturer position at Kumasi Technical University and a part-time lecturing job at the Graduate School of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). He contributed immensely to teaching, research, programme development, and other academic work to the development of these universities.

Until his appointment to the Ministry of Education in April 2021, he was a Senior Lecturer at Kumasi Technical University.

Dr. Nkansah, in 2014, founded Career Spring Institute, a licensed tuition provider for training members of local and international professional bodies and specialised consultancy for small, medium, and large corporations. He worked as the Executive Director of the Institute.

In April 2021, he joined the Ministry of Education as the Director in charge of Tertiary Education. As Director, Tertiary, he attended many educational conferences (both local and international), including conferences organized by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

Dr. Nkansah has over 15 years of experience in academia and education policy administration. He holds a Ph.D. in Financial Economics from the University of Zululand, South Africa, a Master of Business Administration (Finance) from KNUST Business School, Ghana, and B. A (Hons) Economics from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana.

He has published widely in peer-reviewed academic journals and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (ACIB), Ghana. Dr. Nkansah also serves on many governing councils, including Koforidua Technical University and St. Louis College of Education.

He is married and blessed with three lovely boys. Dr. Nkansah is passionate about educating and developing people and believes that educating the population is the fastest way to transform our country.