The Education Ministry has challenged claims by some head teachers that new teachers being posted to schools to handle the gold track under the Free senior High school policy are not fit for purpose.

Some headmasters have told Starr News the new teachers are not experienced and competent enough for the courses they have been posted to teach in their schools.

“The only problem we are having that I want you to amplify is that they are sending teachers to schools to teach certain subjects that they have not done. They have sent teachers or students who have done let’s say health education to come and teach Maths, they sent more of Asante Twi teachers to us here but we don’t do Asante Twi and even most of them indicated that they didn’t do Twi so you could see that it has been done in a bit of haste,” the head teacher at the Kade Senior High School in the Kwaebibirem municipality Emmanuel Nana Yaw Danquah told Starr News.

The National association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) has backed the claims saying most of the experienced teachers were engaged under the green track and are therefore not available for the gold track.

Responding to the concerns, deputy education minister Dr. Yaw Adu Twum said the teachers were posted to schools at the request of the headmasters.

“Based on their request the teachers were sent. The headmasters I have spoken to did not put all these experienced teachers on one track. They are very resourceful persons they are not going to put all of them on one track. So NAGRAT should talk to the headmasters more. We don’t micromanage schools, we trust that they have the judgment to do the right thing. They gave us their request, we sat with them and based on those request, the teachers were sent,” he told Morning Starr host Francis Abban.

He however urged headmasters with challenges over the quality of teachers in their schools to report to the Education office in their district for reposting of such teachers.

“I have heard of situations like that, if you are headmaster and you have a situation like that, what you do is to report to the education directorate and then follow up with what you need and then get the right personnel. What we have authorized Ghana education service to do is to do reposting ”.