The Ghana Education Service (GES) Council is to introduce a policy that will make it mandatory for professional teachers granted study leave to return and teach in their respective regions at the end of their courses. The introduction of the policy which will take effect from the 2007/2008 academic year is to ensure that the teachers serve in the region where they were granted the leave for at least three years after study, the acting Director, Human Resource Management Division, Mrs. Nancy H. Opoku has stated. This, she explained, was driven by the realization that in the past, most teachers especially those from the three northern regions refused to accept posting to their regions after completion of their courses. Mrs. Opoku was speaking at a workshop in Accra on Friday, on determination of quotas for approved course/subject areas for the grant of study leave with pay for next year. She said, 3,000 teachers nation-wide will be granted approval to pursue various courses in the universities and other tertiary institutions next year. She stated emphatically that in granting the leave, 60 percent of the quota would be allocated to applicants teaching in the priority subject areas of English, Mathematics, Science and French. Additionally 20 percent of the quota will go to applicants teaching Ghanaian Language, Vocational/Technical Skills and Agricultural Science. Mrs. Opoku explained that the policy shift was based on the fact that over the years certain subject areas lacked adequate teachers to pursue the core subjects and also the number of teachers produced by the tertiary institutions was less than the teacher demand. She, however, said teachers whose courses were not relevant to teaching would not be considered and encouraged them to enroll in the distance learning programmes in order to upgrade themselves. Mrs. Opoku pointed out that, granting of study leave with pay was not a right, stressing "it is governed by regulations relating to course, duration, qualification and bonding which may from time to time be laid down by the GES Council." "In an effort to ensure that empty classrooms are not created, the management of the quota system also takes into consideration the inflow of teachers annually from the teacher training colleges and the outflow of teachers through the study leave system." Source: The Ghanaian Times