The Deputy Minister for Education, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, has gotten on the wrong side of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) after suggestions that the union is being influenced by partisan interests.
Speaking on The Big Issue, NAGRAT’s President, Angel Carbonu, said his outfit “had to boycott the meeting the Minister [of Education] called because of the insult of the deputy minister.”
“A union has identified a number of issues, and you come on the radio and say the union is singing from the hymn book of a political party,” Mr. Carbonu fumed.
He added that “until he [Rev. Fordjour] withdraws that statement and apologises, we will be taking a series of actions.”
One of NAGRAT’s recent concerns has been the role of the Ministry of Education in selecting headmasters and headmistresses for the government’s new STEM schools.
It further called on the Ministry of Education to withdraw the advertisement inviting applicants to apply for the position of headmaster or headmistress at these schools.
NAGRAT believes the teachers from these schools should be recruited from within the public school’s teacher pool so as not to break the chain of seniority and procedure.
“They [the STEM schools] are not private schools, these are government schools. The teachers employed in these schools are our members and why I say this, I am being talked about as singing from the NDC hymn book.”
“We have even advocated as unions that the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service should establish some leadership training institution for the workers of the Ghana Education service… If they feel we are deficient in the administration and management of schools,” he added.
While Mr. Carbonu said the concept of STEM schools is good, he warned the government “to not take advantage of the concept and start appointing people without going through the appointing process.”
