A former Director of Ghana Education Service (GES) has blamed the challenges teachers face in the country on the incompetence of managers of education in the country.

Mr Michael Nsowah minced no words when he said the current crop of leaders at the country’s education front lack the relevant qualification, hence they neglect the critical role teachers play in ensuring quality education.

Speaking on current affairs programme, PM Express, on the Joy News channel on Multi TV Wednesday evening, Mr Nsowah condemned the current administrators of education for delaying teachers’ salary and putting the welfare of teachers in the backburner.

“Sometimes when you say these things, they say you are doing politics. Since when did this nation experience this kind of situation where teachers are posted and there is no salary?

“People turn around saying they [teachers] have not been verified; they have not gotten clearance [to be paid salaries]. All those people who say those things are ignorant; they are not fit to be in charge of education because it has never happened in our history. It is only a recent development.

“Why is so? It is because the people who are supposed to manage them are not qualified,” he said on PM Express that discussed challenges teachers face in the country as the country marks World Teachers’ Day (WTD).

This year World Teachers’ Day marks the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers.

It is also the first world Teachers’ Day to be celebrated within the new Global Education 2030 Agenda adopted by the world community one year ago.

The theme for the celebration this year is, “Valuing Teachers, Improving their Status.”

Delayed payment of teachers’ salary and the book and research allowance been the source of numerous agitations by teachers in the country.

The government has explained that salaries have delayed because some teachers have presented fake qualification documents in a bid to hoodwink authorities into promoting them.

A national teacher verification exercise to root out unqualified teachers has delayed salaries, further stoking the agitation by teachers.

But speaking on PM Express, Mr. Nsowah says the teacher verification excuse that government a few months ago cited for the delay in the payment of salaries is unacceptable.

“A teacher works for two years but has not been paid, and we think it is normal. Nobody appreciates the teacher or what they have done. That is the sad story of the teacher,” he laments.

Vice President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Angel Kabonu, who was also on the show, said managers of education and teacher unions must collaborate and come out with a good end of service benefit for teachers in the country.

“Then the teacher will know that this is the benefit I get from where I work,” he

source:myjoyonline.com