An educationist, Prof Stephen Adei's radical proposal for the sacking all teachers as a crucial step to improving basic education has been rejected by the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT).
NAGRAT Vice-President Angel Carbonu said on Joy News' AM Show Thursday, "Prof Adei is living in the 17th century."
Prof Stephen Adei, famed for his transformational leadership at Ghana Institute of Management Public Administration GIMPA, said the inferior quality of students churned out at the basic level justifies the sacking of more than 400 Directors of Education.
The plain-speaking Professor of Economics said teachers in Basic Schools should be paid three months salary before their immediate dismissal in lieu of notice.
“Then ask teachers to apply to become head teachers and when they apply pay them well, at least 50% above teachers.
"...and then give them the authority to recruit teachers and pay them through head teachers and that the head teacher who doesn’t deliver results would lose their jobs.
"And then you will see that, without [paying] a pesewa more, the education system will jump to the roof” he summarised his proposal on Joy FM Super Morning Show Wednesday.
Prof Adei who runs a private school with his wife has been highly critical of the public education system which he says only produces functional illiterates.
He said the country faces a very serious crisis because 66% of pupils who finish basic education in Ghana lack the necessary literacy skills.
But NAGRAT would only go as far as agree with the Professor and leadership guru that the quality of education in the country needs serious improvement.
Photo: NAGRAT Vice-President spoke to Joy News' Daniel Dadzie
But the how cannot be the proposal of Prof Adei. The blanket dismissal of teachers flies in the face of labour laws, he argued.
"He does not even know there is a bargaining agreement that leads to the writing of condition of service...there is a code of conduct that is owned by the employer abided by the employee," he explained.
Mass terminations, he said, will only encourage wrongful dismissals with an attendant avalanche of suits against the government.
Mr Carbonu said blaming the problem of education on teachers is too simplistic.
He said the low levels of literacy did not start with the Ghana Education Service.
"In the 60s that Prof Adei was, did we have 100% of children able to read? Is the ability of children now an improvement of what it used to be?" he rejected the radicalism of the educationist.
He said as much as it sounds nice to those desperate for quick fixes, Prof Adei's proposal is only "a beautiful art piece in an Egyptian museum".
"It can be admired but it cannot be functional", he said.
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