Unemployed teachers arrested for unlawful assembly at GES

Some graduate teacher trainees have been detained at the Ministries Police Station for unlawfully picketing at the Ghana Education Service (GES) headquarters in Accra.

The teachers, said to be from the 2016, 2017 and 2018 batches of graduates from various teacher training institutions were at the GES headquarters on Monday morning [January 13] to demand postings.

They had earlier on Friday, January 10, picketed at the GES to demand their postings.

But the GES last Friday said financial clearance had been given to only the 2018 batch and that they would be posted soon.

Confirming the arrest in a radio interview on Accra-based Citi FM, the Police Commander at the Ministries Police Station, Superintendent Florence Owusu, said the protesters initially claimed they had been invited by the GES but that was proven to be false after checks.

“We followed up and we had information that they haven’t sent any information to that effect. So they were advised to vacate the premises since they had not been invited but the leaders said they were not leaving,” she narrated.

She said the police tried to dialogue with the leaders of the graduate teachers who were protesting but they refused to cooperate and that led to the arrest.

“We invited them, they refused the invitation so in a way they were forced into the car and we sent them to the [station] because they were inciting the [other students] saying they shouldn’t leave,” she said.