A call to discuss National Service

THE news that some national service personnel in the Volta Region are threatening to lay down their teaching tools is very worrying. According to our Thursday, 15 September, 2009 front page story, “National Service Persons threaten to quit,” the decision of the service personnel stems from the poor conditions of service.

THERE are no accommodation facilities for them to lay their heads and perform their roles effectively. To compound matters, the region’s district education officers were also not helping matters as they continuously mete out to them.

WHAT is further disquieting about the plight of the service personnel is the deliberate attempt by some education officers in the region, who have resolved to use their positions and influences, to make unwarranted deductions of the meager allowances received by the poor service personnel.

THERE is no denying the fact that our national service persons play crucial roles in the development of the country. That was the primary objective for which the National Service Scheme was established. And since its establishment, it has helped particularly in the education sector where service personnel are posted to some of the remotest parts of Ghana to teach.

WE believe that national service personnel are key partners in the country’s development efforts and must therefore be given a hearing when they bring their grievances to the fore. From the way things are going, it is obvious that many of the national service personnel in the country are extremely disenchanted and feel that authorities have turned a deaf ear to their concerns.

FURTHERMORE, we must not lose sight of the fact that if the service personnel go ahead with their threat, our schools—especially in the rural areas which lack teachers—will bear the brunt of such decisions.

IT is against this background that we on this paper think that government, the National Service Secretariat and the service personnel must come together to resolve the matter amicably. We need to prevent the matter from further deteriorating. And this we must urgently address to save our school children in the rural parts of Ghana who depend largely on service persons for their education.

TODAY also urges service personnel not to take an entrenched position in the matter since that would help nobody. We hope that government will act with dispatch to address the grievances of service personnel to enable them give their best in the classroom.