Upper West Schools to use officers as stopgap

Wa, Oct. 28, GNA - The Upper West Regional Directorate of the Ghana Education Service has decided to mobilize all professional teachers serving in the regional and district offices to teach final year students of Senior and Junior secondary schools in the region, whose teachers are on an indefinite strike.

Mr Cletus Paaga, the Regional Director of Education, said he had asked all District Directors of Education in the region to compile a comprehensive list of officers concerned in their outfits. The lists would indicate the subject areas and where these officers could teach by the beginning of November if the situation is not resolved for the striking teachers to resume work. He was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on Thursday on the heels of a meeting he held with the District Directors of Education in the region on Wednesday. He said his outfit would invite all the teachers and appeal to them to go back to work and if they refuse, he would go ahead and implement the new measure.

"Classes are going on in some schools in the South and since the students are all going to take the same Examination, we should not sit here unconcerned and allow our children to perish academically" he stressed.

Mr Paaga said teaching was not expected to cover all subjects and not necessarily based on the syllabus but rather on past examination questions of the various subjects to be taught by the education officers. He also appealed to all retired teachers, Non-Governmental Organizations and all patriotic citizens to assist in whatever way possible to bring the situation under control. 28 Oct. 06