The Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) is facing criticism from Parliament’s Education Committee for its request to the Ministry of Education (MoE) to grant financial clearance for the recruitment of 2,500 teachers despite unresolved CETAG industrial action since June 14.
Dr. Clement Abas Apaak, the Deputy Ranking Member of Parliament’s Education Committee, expressed his disapproval of GTEC’s move in a recent interview.
He argued that GTEC should focus on resolving the ongoing strike action rather than seeking approval to employ more teachers.
“I think that this move is a very bad move, it ought to be withdrawn. Government must shower the needed resources to meet its obligation to the teachers and let them go back and teach,” he expressed.
According to Dr. Apaak, GTEC’s decision to recruit more teachers is impractical due to the lack of budgetary allocation for this purpose.
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He highlighted that the recently passed 2024 budget and the mid-year review budget presented by the Minister for Finance did not account for the recruitment of 2,500 lecturers.
Dr. Apaak, who is also a lecturer himself, emphasized that the process of recruiting lecturers is time-consuming and cannot be accomplished within a short period.
“We know that we passed the 2024 budget, we have also seen the minister for Finance come with the Mid-year review budget, there are no allocations or estimations to cater for the recruitment of 2500 lecturers. This cannot happen within the next two to three months. I can tell you that on authority.”
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The request from GTEC for financial clearance to recruit 2,500 teachers came in a statement, where the Tertiary Commission highlighted the aim of alleviating the current academic workload on College tutors and ensuring the prompt resumption of academic activities.
The management of GTEC assured the Principals of the various Colleges that once the financial clearance is granted, they will communicate the recruitment process to ensure a timely deployment of the new staff.
