IS THE GHANA EDUCATION SERVICES (GES) BECOMING A PRIVATE RECRUITING AGENCY?

                                       By

                                  Dr. Prince Armah, VAM Africa’s Executive Director

                                                              AND

                              Dr. Selete Avoke, Education and Disability Expert, USA

Few weeks ago, the Ghana Education Service (GES) extorted an amount of sixty-two Ghana cedis (GH¢62.00) from about 4,570 graduate teachers/applicants shortlisted to take part in an aptitude test conducted by GES on 21st May 2016.

The directive to pay the money was posted on the website of GES, where it was also advertised that GES would be recruiting graduate teachers to teach English Language, Maths, Science and Geography at the Senior High School level. Graduate teachers/applicants were required to make this payment to GES before they could even be considered to take part in the aptitude test for their recruitment into the education service.

Respectfully, we together with many likeminded Ghanaians vehemently opposed this directive given by GES. We thought that, GES is a public institution funded by taxpayers which include the graduate teachers who applied. It was therefore unjust, unfair and discriminatory for GES to extort the said amount from these desperate graduate teachers whose only 'crime' is to search for jobs.  Truth be told, the prospective candidates were unemployed and they still are.  How could GES ask unemployed graduates to pay a fee so that they may be considered for employment? Is GES becoming a private recruiting agency? For GES to demand this amount from these desperate job seekers was crude exploitation, pure and simple. The questions to ask are who benefitted from such fees? When did it become a norm to ask unemployed individuals to pay a fee that will not even guarantee full employment but will only qualify payees to take an aptitude test?  We asked these questions because, these graduate teachers are desperate for jobs and that is the more reason why they availed themselves to be employed by GES.  GES is not an employment agency!

What even makes the action by the GES more questionable is the fact that, with companies and or institutions specifically set up to make profit, employers do not charge job seekers a fee for an aptitude test. In the first place, why should prospective teachers sit for an examination or an aptitude test? We have tried hard to locate which international teacher recruitment best practices the GES opted for. We found none, but the closest we found was that of the United States of America (USA). If GES is attempting to copy what prevails in the USA, where prospective teachers take the PRAXIS exams, then they are definitely doing a rather miserable job at copying. Within the USA system, students who plan on teaching after graduating know from the beginning of their studies that they have to take the PRAXIS before they complete their program of studies.  Additionally, students have learning aids and practice materials available to them as they prepare for the PRAXIS exams. With regards to the GES, our question is why did they not require as part of the university curriculum that students must pass an aptitude test? Who is setting up such a test? Who is going to benefit from such a test? How can we be assured that this test is valid? And how are we going to be guaranteed that such a test will not leak like other tests that have leaked within the country?    Again, there is no guarantee that all these graduate teachers will pass this aptitude test in order for them to be employed. What then happens to the money they have already paid? Are these graduates going to be reimbursed? Research clearly indicates that a person’s total capabilities cannot be hinged on a single aptitude test. Additionally, such tests alone are not an absolute predictor of effective teaching and learning. The logical conclusion is that the state would have unjustifiably benefitted at the expense of students who need to be taught so badly.

GES is set up to provide service and not a profit making venture. The services to be rendered by these graduate teachers are practically a selfless one, thus a contribution to the development of this country. Charging them for an examination/aptitude test is unfortunate, sad, and a tragedy. These unemployed graduate teachers/applicants rather need to be motivated and not to be discouraged. Regardless of the fact that we did not receive any response from the Minister of Education on our petition to her on this matter, we will continue to appeal to her good office to take immediate steps to halt this unholy policy that is being implemented by GES. Their directive is an example of simple exploitation of unemployed graduates.  Our selfless graduate teachers must be allowed to take the aptitude test without paying a fee.  Finally, the process of hiring and placement must be transparent and objective.