Newly trained teachers in the country have vowed to resist all attempts by the government to force them to undertake the one-year mandatory national service.
According to them, they had been promised immediate postings after writing the licensure exam.
[contextly_sidebar id=”TLmRB2W7nUfEQmNTTX42179uiceyoVjK”]Last week, the National Service Scheme (NSS) released about 14, 000 pin codes to get trainee teachers across the country to undertake a compulsory one-year national service before employment by the government.
This new directive from the government comes after the trainees sat for the licensure examinations.
But Ekow Painstil Gyan, immediate past deputy secretary of the trainee teachers, has told Citi News none of their members will register unto the scheme because that was not the initial agreement with the government.
“No, we are not ready for any national service. Our members are not registering because we told them not to register. After they issued the statement, they said over 6,000 people have registered. That was a lie.”
“Once we are done writing licensure exams, then it means we are automatically licensed teachers. So, we don’t qualify as national service personnel. They have not been truthful at all, and we call it as deceit on their part”, he added.
Group angry over compulsory national service for new teachers
A group calling itself Teachers and Trainees Advocacy (TTA), described the new directive as “heartbreaking” and “disrespectful.”
“The Leadership of TTA is stating emphatically that newly trained teachers are not on any day embarking on any one-year National Service for that matter we call on all teacher unions to rally behind us for a common course. We have been silent for long, and this is the time to act and fight for our right. We cannot be taken for granted, and sanity and respect must be shown to trainee teachers by the Ministry of Education and other stakeholders,” the group stated in a statement signed by its National Convener, Antwi Karikari Patrick.
National service for teachers compulsory -NSS
Director of Public Affairs at NSS, David Prah, explained that the one-year national service for teachers is now mandatory by law because the teacher trainee colleges have assumed tertiary status and now award diploma certificates.
“I have heard some of the trainees arguing that they were not doing national service. Let’s take note that at first colleges of education that used to be called teacher training colleges were not tertiary, so they were not part of the national service bracket. And when they started coming out with a diploma and becoming tertiary…it has become official for them to do national service,” he added.
–
By: Nii Larte Lartey & Farida Shaibu/citinewsroom.com/Ghana
