The Director-General of Ghana Education Service, Mr Samuel Bannerman Mensah, has been asked to proceed on leave, a source at the ministry has told Joy News. Mr Bannerman-Mensah, who was appointed in January 2007, was due to retire next year. No reasons have so far been assigned for his removal from office. His deputy Naana Biney takes over from him. Until his appointment, Mr Bannerman-Mensah was a Deputy Director-General of the Service. Mr Bannerman-Mensah attended Mfantsipim School, Cape Coast and later the University of Cape Coast where he obtained his Bachelor of Science in Education degree. Between 1995 and 1997, he successfully pursued and completed a Master of Philosophy programme in Educational Planning at the same university. He has held key positions in the Ghana Education Service. As a teacher of Biology for several years at Mfantsipim School, he rose through the ranks to become the Assistant Headmaster of the School from 1997 -1999. Between 1999 and 2004 he was appointed the Headmaster of the Wenchi Secondary School, a position he held with distinction. In 2004 he was promoted to the position of Deputy Director and was posted to the Human Resource Management and Development Division at the Headquarters to strengthen the Division. By dint of hard work, Mr Bannerman-Mensah was appointed as Deputy Director-General in 2005. Mr Bannerman-Mensah has attended various management development programmes including, strategic choices in educational reforms at the World Bank Institute, Washington; a programme on decentralization and educational planning at the University of Hiroshima in Japan; Executive Programmes on Good Corporate Governance and Chief Executive Programme at Ghana Institute of Public Administration (GIMPA) among other courses.