Vice President of the Concerned Unemployed Teacher Trainees, Eshun De-Graft Brown, has expressed frustration over the government’s delay in posting graduates from the 2023 batch of Colleges of Education, despite their successful completion of all training requirements.
According to him, unlike previous years when teacher trainees were posted shortly after completing school or national service, the current batch has been left waiting at home with no communication from the government.
“We sat for our licensure exams, the results came, and we passed. Even our licences are almost expiring, and it is sad that we have not been in the field. As we speak, we have not heard anything from the government,” he said.
Mr. De-Graft Brown recalled that on June 25, the Minister of Education told Parliament that 50,000 teachers and 10,000 non-teaching staff would be recruited, giving them hope that their turn would come soon. However, with the new academic year already in progress since September, he says the situation remains unchanged.
“The academic year began in September, and now we are in November. Schools reopened without newly posted teachers, and the first term is almost ending. We still don’t know our fate,” he added.
He noted that the entire 2023 year group, numbering about 15,000 graduates from 46 Colleges of Education, is yet to be posted.
The prolonged delay, he said, is having serious effects on their livelihoods. “Most of us were posted randomly for national service, and after completing it, we stayed in those towns hoping to be posted in September. Now our landlords are evicting us because we are unemployed,” he lamented.
He added that even private schools are reluctant to hire them. “When we approach private schools for teaching jobs, they say they can’t employ us because we might leave once we are posted. So we are stuck.”
The group is appealing to the government to fulfill its promise to recruit teachers and ensure that qualified graduates are deployed to classrooms before the academic year progresses further.
Mr. De-Graft Brown reiterated that the delay not only affects their welfare but also impacts education delivery, as many schools across the country continue to face teacher shortages.
Source:Lovinghananews.com
