Distance education students accuse GES of selective recruitment

The Cape Coast University branch of the Distance Education Students Association of Ghana (DESAG) has lashed out at the Ghana Education Service for what the Association describes as “discriminatory recruitment” by the service.

Addressing the media as part of the 10th Anniversary and Annual National Delegates Conference ongoing in Koforidua, the National President of DESAG, Pearlson Sablah described as flawed a recent limited recruitment exercise by the Ghana Education Service, with specific reference to a letter cited from the Gomoa West and Apam district Education Directorate, which stated clearly that applicants who obtained their training from distance or sandwich programs were ineligible to apply.

According to him, teaching is the only job opportunity for Distance Education graduates who offered Education related courses so it is unfortunate for such recruitment exercises to exclude them.

The Ghana Education Service is the statutory body responsible for posting trainees from the Colleges of Education, mostly the government colleges and selected private Colleges of Education in Ghana.

The service which is a Pre-tertiary institution is therefore responsible for the training of the teachers hence the establishment of the Colleges of Education.

Students from the Universities who studied Education related courses, either Diploma or Degree are eligible for teaching in the public basic schools only by recruitment.

The only group of University students qualified for automatic postings are those on study leave who went to upgrade themselves in education-related courses.

The GES contends that the only condition under which it can post students from the universities is only when it is involved in their training at the universities, but the universities are autonomous and therefore reluctant to allow the GES, which is a Pre-tertiary institution, to be involved in the training of its students.

The National President of DESAG Pearlson Sablah told Starr News the situation has created a backlog of distance education graduates who are struggling to get jobs.