Teacher Kwadwo’s SISO to take legal action over demotion

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Edward Yamoah, the demoted School Improvement Support Officer (SISO) formerly known as Circuit Supervisor (CS) for Akrofuom Circuit, has vowed to take legal action against the Ghana Education Service (GES) to clear his reputation.

According to him, the decision to demote him from his current position to the classroom as stated in the Ghana Education Service’s letter dated 27th October, 2021 is inappropriate because he has done nothing wrong to merit such punishment so far as the case is concerned. Ghana Education Service instructed that Edward Yamoah, the Akrofuom Circuit SISO is demoted because Teacher Kwadwo is a popular figure therefore they have to involve others in the case else people may think he has been witch-hunted.

In a statement sighted by GhanaWeb, the embattled SISO expressed shock over the development and vowed to deal with the GES officials. “I am therefore very surprised that the District Education Disciplinary Committee recommended that the SISO and the headteacher should be demoted but the Teacher himself should be reassigned, no wonder the Director-General didn’t see any sense in this,” part of his statement read. Background Ghanaian comedian and professional teacher, Michael Owusu Afriyie, popularly known as Teacher Kwadwo, confirmed being axed by the Ghana Education Service on Saturday, December 18, 2021. Teacher Kwadwo in a post disclosed that the content of a letter he received from the district office of the GES cite him for some misconduct, hence, the decision to sack him.

He described as funny the grounds for his dismissal and warned of a protracted battle between himself and the GES. Teacher Kwadwo on Friday, December 17, 2021, criticized the Ghana Educational Service over what he considers to be poor planning in the implementation of the National Standard Test by primary four students. In multiple social media posts, Teacher Kwadwo berated the government and questioned its commitment to the delivery of quality education. Read below Edward Yamoah’s full statement. Response from Akrofuom’s SISO on Teacher Kwadwo’s Case Good evening colleagues, Last Friday 17th December 2021, I officially received a letter from GES headquarters in relation to the above case.

According to the letter I should be re-assigned to a classroom teacher in another district. I decided not to challenge this because I thought headquarters got everything right. But after further checks, it has been realized that my District Education Disciplinary Committee made that recommendation which was endorsed by my District Director of Education with the reason that Teacher Kwadwo is a popular figure therefore they have to involve others in the case else people may think he has been witch-hunted.

I am therefore very surprised that the District Education Disciplinary Committee recommended that the SISO and the headteacher should be demoted but the Teacher himself should be re-assigned, no wonder the Director-General didn’t see any sense in this. My basis for challenging these recommendations are the following:

1. My Directorate and District Education Disciplinary Committee never found me culpable of any offence, nor did DirectorGeneral cite any of my actions that were against the Code of Conduct of GES that warranted my punishment.

2. I was posted to this directorate in September 2020, I was not assigned any schedule until January 2021. That I was given my appointment letter as a SISO of Akrofuom Circuit but the handing over as SISO was not done until June 2021, all because someone was not willing to handover and despise my numerous complaints to the directorate that it was affecting my work, no officer, not even the Director saw anything wrong with this till when I was invited to appear before the District Education Disciplinary Committee.

3. After receiving my appointment letter as SISO in January, I never visited any school in that month because no officer was willing to introduce me to my teachers. In fact, it has been recorded in all the logbooks of my schools that I introduced myself to the teachers in all the schools as the newly appointed SISO.

4. In the report that I wrote to Director and the District Education Disciplinary Committee on this issue, I clearly indicated that I got to know his absenteeism on 18th February and that was the first day I visited that school. This teacher resumed school on 10 March 2021 and a query was issued to him on 11th March 2021 for absenting himself without proper permission. It is stated in Director General’s own letter that the teacher refused to respond to some queries from the SISO, and this means that I did what was expected from me as a SISO.

5. Finally, I want to make it clear that I was not allowed to validate the teachers in my circuit until June 2021 therefore I can’t be held responsible for whoever validated the teacher after I had already reported him to the office for continuously absenting himself from school without permission.

In conclusion, I will result to any legal action to clear my reputation in this case.

Thank You

Edward Yamoah SISO Akrofuom Circuit.