Try new GES boss for a year and assess his performance - Nana Akomea to striking teachers

STC Chief Executive Officer, Nana Akomea, has appealed to the striking teachers to let calm prevail as they hold meeting with the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations and the Ministry of Education to discuss their strike action.

Three Teacher Unions have embarked on strike to protest the appointment of Dr. Eric Nkansah as Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES).

Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana (CCT-G) say they will call off their strike action when the government addresses their grievances.

The Unions, on November 4, 2022, declared a nationwide strike over the failure of the government to meet the deadline to terminate the appointment of the new Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Dr. Eric Nkansah.

But Nana Akomea says they should give Dr. Eric Nkansah the opportunity to prove himself.

According to him, the teachers can only have a justifiable point to demand the head of the GES Director-General when he has worked and they realize his performance doesn't meet the required standard.

"This is not an issue that we should let the students suffer for it, that they will be home because teachers are on strike . . . The question I ask is there something wrong with the way he was given the appointment or is it that the teachers just don't like the person?

"If the appointment was done appropriately, then you can rebuke the person only when the person has begun working and you have seen his performance is poor. But this person has not even been in office for a month, therefore how can you say you don't like him and so his appointment should be revoked," he said on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" programme.

He advised the Unions to allow "cooler heads to prevail" and asked them to "try him (Dr. Eric Nkansah) for about one year...They should give the man time and watch what he also can do at the Ghana Education Service".