Tamale: A consortium of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) working in the education sector has called for an urgent review of the country’s centralized teacher recruitment and deployment system. They argued that a decentralized approach would promote equity, accountability, and improved learning outcomes across the country.
According to Ghana News Agency, the consortium, consisting of the Northern Network for Education Development, Complementary Basic Education (CBE) Alliance (School for Life), and several other organizations, made the call at a press conference in Tamale to mark this year’s World Teachers’ Day. Mr. Amadu Zulyaden, Projects Manager at School for Life, who read the press statement, praised teachers for their dedication despite numerous challenges.
The statement highlighted systemic bottlenecks in the current teacher management framework, indicating that these issues undermine the delivery of quality education, especially in rural communities. It referenced 2023 research by School for Life, revealing that the centralized system has not achieved the desired outcomes in improving learning results.
Currently, teacher vacancies are reported by schools to the Ghana Education Service Headquarters through District and Regional Education Offices, which then directly post teachers nationwide. The study found that this top-down system perpetuates inequity and weakens accountability at the local level, with 68 per cent of teacher vacancies remaining in rural areas.
The statement noted that the quality of basic education is low in many districts, with four out of six districts having over 70% of students scoring aggregate 30 and above in the 2020 Basic Education Certificate Examinations. It lamented that some teachers manage to secure re-postings to preferred locations through connections, worsening teacher shortages in deprived communities.
The centralized system has left District Directors of Education with limited control over teacher postings, monitoring, and discipline. The CSOs also expressed concern that the Language of Instruction (LI) policy is undermined by the current deployment system, as many teachers do not speak the local languages of their assigned communities.
Additionally, poor ICT infrastructure within district and regional statistics units hinders the effective rollout of the Education Management Information System. The statement warned that without reforms, the pupil-trained teacher ratio gap between urban and rural schools would widen, potentially exacerbating mental health challenges among teachers.
The CSOs proposed a decentralized teacher recruitment and deployment system with District Education Offices leading recruitment and postings after financial clearance from the Ministry of Finance. They emphasized the importance of local knowledge in effective teacher deployment and called for increased investment in planning and data units of education offices.
The CSOs urged the government to implement motivational incentives such as a 20% deprived area allowance, affordable accommodation, accelerated promotions, and free professional development for teachers in deprived districts. The statement stressed that without urgent reforms, the centralized structure would continue to weaken local education management systems and undermine the quest for quality, equitable, and inclusive education for all.