There are several defects in the recruitment process for teachers in Ghana which must be dealt with immediately, a former Minister of Education, Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang has said.

The former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast explained that in order to properly deal with issues of salary arrears and non-payment of allowances, the recruitment process must be cleaned up.

Prof Opoku-Agyemang stated that when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) was in office, the then-government started a validation exercise as part of moves to ensure that recruitments were done properly.

This exercise, she urged the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration, should be continued in order to deal with the problems that have resulted in the declaration of a strike by the teachers.

Explaining her point further on the Ghana Yensom show on Accra100.5FM hosted by Kwabena Prah Jnr (The Don) on Tuesday, 10 December 2019, Prof Opoku-Agyemang said during her stay in office as minister, she observed that some teachers had not been given appointment letters yet had taught for almost two years without salary.

This promoted the validation exercise, she added.

The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana (CCT) began the nationwide strike on Monday, 9 December.

The three unions’ industrial action is in connection with the failure of the government to pay their legacy arrears.

They made the joint announcement at a press conference held in Accra on Thursday, 5 December 2019.

According to the unions, the arrears date as far back as 2012 to 2016.