THE DIRECTOR GENERAL OF G.E.S. HAS QUESTIONED THE LATE PROFESSOR KOFI AWOONOR’S LITERARY COMPETENCE.

Director General of GES, Mr. Jacob Aaworb-Nang Maabobr Kor, given your strong Roman Catholic background, I don’t think you are ready to throw the dignity and integrity of the professors and senior lecturers who taught you in the University of Cape Coast for both your Bachelors and Masters degrees in the mud and make them ridiculous in the eye of the public. 

 

The action of the Director General, Ghana Education Service (GES) into whose name the shortlisted applicants of the recent GES recruitment and posting exercise are supposed to pay an amount of sixty-two cedis (62) questions the intellectual capabilities of all the professors, PhD holders and senior lecturers in Ghana’s teacher training universities- University of Cape Coast (UCC) and the University of Education, Winneba (UEW).

I write to uncover the irony of this ‘funny’ exercise by the GES. There are a lot of questions that need answers and I wonder if the organisers of this exercise actually asked themselves same- perhaps they are professors with questionable mental abilities-hahaha!

Imagine someone who completed the university three years ago but due to the embargo that was placed on employment, serves as a teacher in a private school where he earns two hundred cedis (¢200) a month and lives in Agona Swedru. This person sees the GES announcement of vacancies and applies. After being shortlisted, he is asked to pay sixty-two cedis (¢62) by banker’s draft. This service comes with a commission and thus he pays about seventy-five cedis (¢75). On the D-day, he spends about forty cedis (¢40) as fare for transportation (in and out of Cape Coast) just to ‘stand a chance’ of being employed by the GES. Where on earth do these authorities expect an unemployed graduate to raise such money from, the two hundred cedis (¢200) he earns in a month? If yes, what of those who have no form of employment since completion?

The next instance worth considering is the funniest situational irony I have ever seen in my life. GES won’t cease to amuse me! All the shortlisted applicants are people who have gone through a four year degree awarding education. All of them were exposed to the teachings of professors and senior lecturers some of whom have become recognised authorities in Ghana, Africa and the world at large in their fields of specialization. Talking of recognised authorities, names like Professor Kwakuvi Azaasu (UEW), Professor Kofi Agyekum (Legon), the late Professor Kofi Awoonor (Legon), Professor John F. Wiredu (Legon), Professor Jophus Anamuah-Mensah (UEW), Professor A.A. Sackey (KNUST, UEW) etc. pop up. All these applicants passed through such hands and understudied such brains and these authorities considered it worthy of awarding them degrees with various Honours ranging from First Class, Second Class (Upper and Lower divisions) and Third Class. The question now is, which people in the GES are going to test them again- other degree/masters holders in GES? FUNNY!

I strongly suggest to GES that they should withdraw this exercise and at least resort to an oral/verbal interview as characteristic of almost every job selection criteria because the exercise if carried on will be the WORST INSULT of the century- a degree/masters holder testing a product of the late Professor Kofi Awoonor if the latter taught him literature well. Aaaaahhh! 

In fact, GES supervises the writing of BECE and WASSCE organised by WAEC. Given the various malpractices that characterise the writing of these examinations- leakage of questions- how can the applicants trust that the questions for the exams are not already dancing on social media? In fact, who even told GES that a pass in this examination would necessarily make a good teacher and a fail in the exams a bad one?

We, the applicants, are all ready to support you to organise an oral interview for us, but for a sit-down exams, we humbly call on you to withdraw with immediate effect. If you don’t, most of us would not to show up for the paper to at least show our respect for our professors and lecturers. We will never question the competence of our lecturers on any platform not for any reason if it means to remain unemployed.

Writer: Daniel Arkoh Fenyi

Call/Whatsapp: 0242937017

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