The Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Daniel Fenyi, has explained the reasons behind a recent directive asking teachers to follow the official administrative structure when addressing their concerns.
In a post shared on his personal Facebook page, Fenyi said the directive, titled “Management Reinforces Respect for Administrative Structures and Professional Conduct,” aims to remind teachers to use the established channels within the Service rather than going directly to the national headquarters.
According to him, the administrative structure of GES has always been simple since the institution was created in the 1950s. He explained that issues should first be handled at the school level, then escalated to the district, regional, and finally the national level if necessary.
Fenyi noted that over the years, the school, district, and regional offices have been able to resolve more than 60 percent of concerns raised by teachers and students without the need for national intervention.
He argued that the system became weaker in recent years when the previous government centralized many decision-making powers at the national level, reducing the authority of school, district, and regional offices.
According to him, the current government is attempting to reverse that situation by restoring authority to the lower administrative levels to improve efficiency and reduce congestion at the national office.
“Office staff at the school, district, and regional levels are paid every month to manage the system and safeguard the welfare of teachers within their jurisdictions,” Fenyi wrote.
However, he expressed concern about a growing trend where some teachers—especially newly recruited ones—leave their classrooms and travel directly to the national headquarters in Accra to address their concerns.
Fenyi said this approach bypasses school heads, district directors, and regional offices, and sometimes leaves students without teachers during instructional hours.
He suggested that the situation may be due to a lack of trust in the administrative structures or the desire for media attention when issues are raised at the national level.
According to him, some teachers who appear at the national office have already submitted their documents to district or regional offices but still choose to escalate the matter publicly.
He questioned how teaching would continue if teachers regularly left classrooms to pursue administrative matters themselves.
Fenyi stressed that administrative processes should be handled by office staff while teachers focus on their main responsibility of teaching.
He added that the directive issued by GES management simply seeks to ensure that the established administrative structure works effectively while teachers remain committed to their classroom duties.
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