GES Director-General position only for educationist – GNAT

The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) following the appointment of Eric Nkansah has said the Ghana Education Service Director-General position is a teaching top role reserved for individuals in the education space.

The teacher union concern comes after His Excellency terminated the appointment of an educationist, Professor Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa and appointed Eric Nkansah with a banking background as the Acting Director-General of GES.

Citing the 2020 Collective Agreement between Ghana Education Service and teacher unions, the Association said the appointment of a banker as GES Director-General contradicts the procedural rules of the Collective Agreement.

“It must be stated that the Director-General position is the preserve of Educationists and has been occupied by Educationists since its creation in 1974,” GNAT stated in a press statement copied to AcademicWeek.com.

The union continued that “for the avoidance of doubts 17 Director-Generals have been appointed to serve at GES. Out of this number, 5 were professors from the Academia who were known to operate in the education space.”

The remaining 12 former Director-Generals of the Ghana Education Service (GES) the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) said were all higher offices of GES and remained as such even under the military regimes.

“Therefore the appointment of a banker instead of an educationist is a manifestation of lack of confidence in teachers to manage their own affairs and disregard to an established scheme of Service and progress within the GES,” it noted.

Profile of Eric Nkansah

41-year-old Nkansah joined the Ministry of Education (MoE) in April 2021 on secondment from the Kumasi Technical University (KTU), where he served as Senior Lecturer at the Department of Banking Technology and Finance,

Before he was appointed the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Dr Eric Nkansah was the Technical Advisor/Director in charge of Tertiary Education at the Ministry in charge of Education (MoE).

He holds a PhD in Financial Economics from the University of Zululand, South Africa, a Master of Business Administration (Finance) from KNUST Business School, Ghana, and B. A (Hons) Economics from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana.

He has published widely in peer-reviewed academic journals. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (ACIB), Ghana.

He is married and blessed with three lovely boys. Dr Nkansah is passionate about educating and developing people. He believes increasing access to education is the fastest way to transform our country