Gov’t asked to review ‘bias’ GES promotion system over unfairness

The Wa West District Director of Education, Ametus Tug-uu, has called on the government to review the Ghana Education Service’s (GES) current promotion system, which allows junior officers to be promoted ahead of their seniors.

“In resetting Ghana, I plead with the President and the Minister of Education to look at the promotion structure in GES. If this system is streamlined, it will encourage and motivate teachers to work harder,” he said.

The Wa West District Education Director made the call during a presentation of 10,000 exercise books to students in the Wa West District by the Member of Parliament for Wa West, Peter Lanchene Toobu.

Reacting to the Education Director’s call, Mr Peter Lanchene Toobu said, “The future does not belong to the youth by default,” he said. “It belongs to those who prepare, those who work hard, and those who discipline themselves to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to lead.”

Meanwhile, the Minister of Education, Honourable Haruna Iddrisu, has urged the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) to ensure fairness and transparency in the ongoing 2025 teaching staff promotion process.

Speaking at the official launch of this year’s National Teacher Prize Awards in Accra on Wednesday, August 20, 2025, he expressed concern that any perceived injustice could discourage educators from participating in future promotion exercises.

“The Director General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) is here. I should commend him. I was told only yesterday that some persons have seen an advert on the promotion of teachers to Director One.

Mr Haruna’s directive comes after the Ghana Education Service (GES) opened a promotions portal for teaching staff to apply for the ranks of Deputy Director, Assistant Director I, Assistant Director II, and Principal Superintendent.

In a statement sighted by Pretertiary.com, the Ghana Education Service (GES) under the auspices of the Ministry of Education invited applications from suitably qualified serving teachers/officers for consideration for promotion to the rank of;

a. Deputy Director
b. Assistant Director I
c. Assistant Director II
d. Principal Superintendent

The Ghana Education Service, following concerns received by some teachers on the teacher promotion process, revised the qualification criteria for the ongoing registration for this year’s teaching staff promotion exercise.

In an earlier statement, GES said only teachers promoted to or before 2020 and have been continuously at post since that date (except for the periods of approved leave of absence) qualify for the registration for promotion.

But, in a recent statement dated August 21, 2025, sighted by Pretertiary.com, the Ghana Education Service (GES) management said all teachers who received their last promotion or appointment in 2021 or earlier are eligible to apply.

“No eligible teacher will be left out of the promotion exercise. Therefore, the application is open to all teachers who received their last promotion or appointment in or before 2021,” it said in the statement dated August 21, 2025.

The Ghan Education Service’s decision to revise the qualification requirements follows complaints that teachers with promotion dates from 2020 and 2021 have been unfairly excluded from the process, despite serving the required years.