General News of Tuesday, 6 November 2018

Source: 3news.com

New teachers for second track posted

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Government has released the results and postings of graduates who applied online for teaching appointments into the various senior high schools across the country.

Each of the recruited teachers has been given specific subjects to teach.

A statement from the Ghana Education Service said candidates who were successful in the aptitude test for recruitment into the Service will have to obtain their appointment letters through the GES online portal at the cost of five cedis.

“Successful candidates are to indicate their acceptance of the appointment to the Headmaster of the schools they are posted to by Friday 15th November 2018,” the statement signed by the Head of Public Relations at GES, Cassandra Twum Ampofo said.

The recruited persons will serve one year probation during which period they are expected to pass the Teacher Professional Licensure examination before their appointments can be confirmed.

Over 8,000 new graduate teachers are to be recruited in the exercise to take care of the additional students to be admitted for the double track system that started from September.

A total of 819 will be recruited for core mathematics, 276 for elective mathematics, 793 for English language, 606 for integrated science and 366 for social studies.

In June Deputy Education Minister Dr. Yaw Osei Edutwum rejected claims that the introduction of the double track system will bring additional cost to the government through the recruitment of the new teachers.

Government in the 2018 mid-year budget review assured that provisions have been made for the programme for the first term of the 2018/2019 academic year.

“People talk about additional cost from teachers, no. We hire them with their regular calendar because if you bring in more students you have to bring in more teachers. We are hiring more teachers because of increased enrollment,” he said on TV3 New Day on June 29.

The new double track system creates a calendar for two semesters in a year for SHS 1 class containing 81 days per semester and 41 days of vacation for a sandwich class.

Government has explained the new system will create room to accommodate increased enrollment expected in the 2018/2019 academic year under the Free SHS as well as reduce class sizes among others.

The system, according to the government, will run in category A and B public schools.

Of the 968 public senior high schools, the Education Minister on August 7 said only 400 have been earmarked for the semester-based system.

A total of 472,000 new students, representing an increase of some 31%, are to be admitted into the various Senior High Schools across the country.

Despite criticism of the system by various stakeholders, the government said it is unfazed and will go ahead with its implementation.