Deputy Ranking Member on Parliament’s Education Committee, Dr Clement Apaak, says some of the strikes in the education sector are entirely preventable if government will be sincere in dispensing its responsibilities to the various groups and their members.
Taking particular note of the ongoing strike action in the pre-tertiary education sector to protest the appointment of Dr Eric Nkansah as new Director General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Dr Apaak noted that that was the most preventable of all the strikes currently ongoing.
“I believe that this matter can be resolved very quickly because their strike is not based on conditions of service by and large, it is not precipitated by any other factor, but it is precipitated primarily with their disagreement and opposition to the appointment of Dr Eric Nkansah to serve as the Director General of the Ghana Education Service which they reject to. And I believe they have proffered very reasonable arguments to justify their decision to oppose that appointment,” he said on JoyNews’ PM Express.
According to him, the strike action which is adversely affecting the education of some 8million Ghanaian pupils and students can simply be halted if the appointing authority, that is, the President, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, rescinds the appointment of Dr Eric Nkansah.
“So for me, if the appointing authority, in this case the President who acted in making this appointment upon the recommendation of the Sector Minister wants to end this strike he can just do it by a simple pronouncement.
“I mean, I cannot see why 400,000 teachers have to leave classroom to the detriment of over 8million students and pupils because of one appointment that has been made which the teacher unions deem to be unacceptable as far as their standards are concerned,” he said.
Dr Apaak noted that while it may be argued that the President’s decisions are final in matters of appointment, it is only right for the President to do the necessary engagement and background checks to ensure that his appointments do not cause the kind of ruckus happening now.
“Yes the argument has been made that there is no law and that perhaps, you know, nobody has the power to challenge the President’s authority in appointing, well and good.
“But when you are functioning within the space of stakeholders, where you know that there are elements within the space who also have interest, who are professionals, one of the things you ought to do is to always do some background diligent work to ensure that whomever you’re going to bring on board is generally acceptable to principally those who are in the middle of that theatre, and this is the about 400,000 teachers. That was not done.
“And I believe if that was done …the insensitivities that greeted the ouster of the former Director General of the Ghana Education Service Professor Opoku Amankwah, we will not be here,” he said.