The consortium, made up of the  Northern Network for Education Development, Complementary Basic Education (CBE) Alliance (School for Life), Integrated Social Development Centre, NOYED Ghana, RAINS, GILLBT, Norsaac, ActionAid Ghana, Savana Signatures, Oxfam in Ghana, YEFL-Ghana, AfriKids, Children Believe, Ghana Developing Communities Association, Songtaba, and the Centre for Active Learning and Integrated Development, made the call at a press conference in Tamale to mark this year’s World Teachers’ Day. 

Mr. Amadu Zulyaden, Projects Manager at School for Life, who read the press statement, lauded teachers across the country for their sacrifices and resilience in shaping the minds and future of pupils despite numerous challenges. 

The statement, however, highlighted systemic bottlenecks in the country’s current teacher management framework saying they continued to undermine the delivery of quality education, especially in rural communities. It pointed out that findings from 2023 research conducted by School for Life on teacher deployment in Ghana showed that the existing policy, which operated on a highly centralized system, had not achieved the desired outcomes in improving learning outcomes It said under the current arrangement, teacher vacancies were reported by schools to the Ghana Education Service Headquarters through the District and Regional Education Offices where the headquarters then directly posted teachers to schools nationwide. 

The statement said the findings of the study revealed that the top-down system had perpetuated inequity and weakened accountability structures at the local level. It said the study further revealed that 68 per cent of teacher vacancies remained in rural areas showing that the policy had failed to address the equity gap in teacher distribution. 

It further observed that the quality of basic education was low in many districts with four out of six districts recording over 70% of students obtaining aggregate 30 and above in the 2020 Basic Education Certificate Examinations. The statement lamented that some of the teachers, after being posted to rural schools, managed to secure re-postings to preferred locations through political or personal connections, further worsening the shortage of teachers in deprived communities.

 It noted that the centralized system had rendered District Directors of Education powerless as they had limited control over teacher postings, monitoring, and discipline. The CSOs also expressed worry that the Language of Instruction (LI) policy approved in 2004 was undermined by the current deployment system. 

It said, “The policy stipulates that at the lower primary level (KG1–P3), the medium of instruction should be the dominant local language of the child.” The statement said it was unfortunate that many teachers posted from the GES Headquarters did not speak the local languages of the communities in which they were assigned, making the implementation of the LI policy ineffective. It pointed to the poor state of ICT infrastructure within the district and regional statistics units noting that inadequate computers, internet connectivity, and logistics had hindered the effective rollout of the Education Management Information System. 

It warned that unless reforms were undertaken, the pupil-trained teacher ratio between urban and rural schools would continue to widen. It said the situation could also exacerbate mental health and psychosocial challenges among teachers, a concern echoed by the African Union (2024), which cited factors such as poor working environments, long hours, large class sizes, and inadequate remuneration as stressors that could negatively impact teachers’ wellbeing. 

The statement proposed a decentralised teacher recruitment and deployment system where District Education Offices would take the lead in recruiting and posting teachers after financial clearance from the Ministry of Finance. It said, “District Offices have local knowledge of their teacher needs and are better placed to deploy teachers effectively.”

It called for increased investment in the planning, monitoring, and data units of the District Education Offices and Regional Education Offices coupled with refresher training for staff to improve data collection, analysis, and storage to inform rational teacher deployment decisions. It urged government to immediately implement motivational incentives such as the 20% deprived area allowance, affordable and decent accommodation, accelerated promotions, and free continuous professional development modules for teachers in deprived districts.

The statement emphasized that without urgent reforms, the centralized structure would continue to weaken local education management systems and undermine the nation’s quest for quality, equitable, and inclusive education for all.