The premises of the Tamale Metropolitan Directorate of Education was in a state of confusion on Monday morning as many teachers who went there to do their biometric registration were left stranded. In 2010, the government, through the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD), decided to obtain the biometric information of all public servants as part of efforts to improve payroll management in Ghana but the gathering of data started in April 2012. While employees of other departments have been undergoing the exercise smoothly, that of teachers has been marked with a lot of irregularities. Teachers in the Tamale Metropolis were to undergo the biometric registration exercise last week but those in basic schools had theirs postponed to this week because many of them expressed interest in travelling to Accra for the funeral of the late President, John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills. As the exercise was scheduled to begin this morning, all teachers of basic schools in the metropolis thronged the office of the Metropolitan Education for the exercise since many of them did not know which circuits and schools would start the exercise first. At the time the Daily Graphic visited the area, the whole place was in a state of confusion and the teachers were seen in groups discussing the issue. “This is not the first time that this exercise is being organised in the country and our leaders should have learnt from the mistakes”, said one of the teachers who pleaded anonymity. “Why is it that this kind of confusion is always associated with teachers when it is time for something to be done for them? Employees of other departments have undergone this exercise already and there was no confusion so why that of teachers?” asked Anifatu Yakubu, a teacher. They said the poor organisation of the exercise by officials of the Ghana Education Service had resulted in some teachers in certain parts of the country not being able to be registered and were subsequently declared “ghosts”. They therefore expressed apprehension that genuine teachers from the Tamale Metropolis could have their names deleted from the government payroll if the exercise was not handled properly. But the Public Relations Officer of the Tamale Metropolitan Education Office, Mr Mohammed Fuseini, said only teachers from five circuits in the metropolis were to begin the exercise this morning. He said they had to finish with the teachers from Mile 9, Kamina B, Zogbeli A, B and C circuits, before inviting teachers from other circuits and have their turn. He blamed the teachers for not reading the notice board at the Education Office before thronging the place to cause confusion. Meanwhile, their counterparts in the senior high schools in the metropolis did their registration smoothly last week.