Police clash with leaders of protesting teacher trainees; four arrested

Police have arrested four of the leaders of some trained teachers who have been picketing at the premises of the Ghana Education Service (GES) on Monday morning.

The trained teachers are demanding postings, having completed their training as part of the 2016/2017 batch.

But the action on Monday was deemed an infraction of the Public Order Act by the police.

Speaking on 3FM’s Sunrise after the clash with the police, Juliana Yeboah, one of the protesting teachers, said the police arrested the four leaders including President of the Unposted Trained Teachers Emmanuel Asabere for no reason.

She said they did not provoke the police, who came to drive them out.

She said all of them, numbering between 300 and 400, have complied with the police order by moving outside the main premises of the Service.

“We are no longer in the yard,” she told host of Sunrise Stephen Anti.

Speaking from police custody, Mr Asabere condemned the action of the law-enforcement agency and expressed defiance that they will return to picket when released.

He said they had been assured several times by GES of getting posted but they have run out of patience.

“If they think our certificates do not qualify us as teachers, they should tell us,” he said.

But reacting to concerns by the protesting trained teachers, Cassandra Twum-Ampofo, the Head of the Public Relations of GES, said all trainees who completed in 2016/2017 academic year have been posted, by their records.

She said those protesting are those who may have deferred or failed their studies.

She said over 14,000 newly trained teachers were posted in 2017.

“Maybe, yes management will meet and inform our bosses,” she said about the new trainees.