NTC Registrar breaks silence on call to be new GES Director

The Registrar of the National Teaching Council (NTC) Christian Addai Poku has denied a claim indicating teacher unions have petitioned President Akufo-Addo to dismiss Eric Nkansah and appoint him as the new GES Director-General.

Citing a story from Graphic Online, the former President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) said he is not unaware of the teachers’ decision for him to replace Eric Nkansah as Acting Director-General of GES.

“I was never aware of any such discussion anywhere, that is if there has ever been any such discussion at all. I cannot be the subject of the teacher unions’ struggle over the appointment of the Director General,” Dr Addai Poku stated.

In a social media post sighted by AcademicWeek.com, he continued “It is regrettable that Daily Graphic could not quote from any authoritative sources in such a serious allegation but resort to rumours and unidentified sources.”

Appointed by President Akufo-Addo late this year to head the Ghana Education Service as Director-General, three teacher unions (NAGRAT, CCT-GH and GNAT) have registered disagreement over the appointment of Dr Nkansah.

The union in a statement said with 17 Educationists appointed Director-General of the Ghana Education Service from 1974 to date, Dr Eric Nkansah with a banking background is not qualified to manage education in the country.

“It must be stated that the Director-General position is preserved for Educationists and has been occupied by Educationists since 1974 to date. 17 Director-Generals have been appointed to serve at GES,” the teachers stated.

The 41-year-old banker and lecturer of the Kumasi Technical University joined the Ministry of Education (MoE) in April 2021 on secondment from the Kumasi Technical University, where he served as a Senior Lecturer for about 8 years.

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.

Dr Eric Nkansah was appointed the Ghana Education Service (GES) Director-General by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo this year to replace Professor Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa who served from 2017 to 2022.