4.6 Orientation in the districts
These quotations reveal a bureaucracy perceived to be in crisis,
open to influence, unwilling to discipline, unable to pay on time, and carrying
out practices that undermine professionalism; an open door waiting to be pushed
by teachers driven to "deviance". The picture, however, is not entirely bleak
and there are a number of positive signs of change. Perhaps the most interesting
example of this is Ajumako district in Central Region. It is the 24th
most deprived district in the country and for a long time has had a problem
attracting and keeping teachers as most of its schools would be classified as
rural and many are remote. Yet, Ajumako gives the strong impression of
district-inspired progress and shows how the context can be changed without
increased resources, but with a more proactive management culture.
Firstly, it provides a popular orientation programme for all
newly posted and newly transferred teachers in the first term, which, among
other things, introduces key District Officers and explains their roles to new
teachers. Some other districts provide orientation, though in 1998 this
provision was patchy in Central Region, and two other rural districts with
problems in the retention of new staff, claimed financial restrictions had
prevented them from doing so. Ajumako has also developed an "adopt a school"
programme, which gives all members of the district office three schools that
they should be in regular contact with to try and ensure that the district
office is more responsive to school-level needs and problems. On entering the
Director's office, one is immediately confronted by a detailed chart on the wall
with pins for each vacancy in each school, giving a very clear public profile to
the problems faced in the district, but also showing the up-to-date quality of
information available in the office. The acting director is also very aware of
what a strong disincentive the lack of further education opportunities in the
rural areas is for newly posted teachers and he is in discussions with the Dean
of the Faculty of Education at Cape Coast University in order to develop an
outreach programme.
One of the strengths of the Ajumako approach is that it builds
on the positive potential in the system and shows the potential for
organisational renewal. It is worth restating that within the Ghana education
system, with its negative socialisation process, the majority of teachers do
still report to what are often very difficult postings, something that is
discussed in greater detail in the next section. Similarly, the lack of support
from and poor communication with some GES District and Regional Offices and
National HQ, often put down to resource constraints, can be seen in a new light
next to the example of
Ajumako.
