By News Desk
Growing anger over a ‘chaotic’ online portal for the upcoming Ghana Education Service (GES) promotion examinations has triggered urgent demands for accountability, with teachers, labor leaders, and education advocates demanding to know who authorized the procurement of a technical vendor deemed unfit for purpose.
The examination, scheduled for November 2 to 4, 2026, was meant to offer a clear, merit-based career path for educators including Deputy Directors applying for Director II roles. Instead, the process has devolved into administrative turmoil, raising serious questions about the vetting, procurement, and oversight of the private contractor hired to manage the process.
Procurement Oversight Under Fire
Rather than streamlining applications, the portal has systematically locked out long-serving, highly qualified teachers while allowing thousands of ineligible candidates to slip through the system. Stakeholders are now turning their attention from the technical glitches to the procurement process itself, asking why a vital public-sector operation was entrusted to an unqualified vendor.
Educational advocate Kwami Alorvi publicly questioned the contract award, arguing that the vendor’s severe technical incompetence reflects a fundamental failure during procurement:
“What is clear in the unfolding drama is that the vendor in charge of the portal development does not have the technical expertise to handle this promotion process. Whoever engaged this software provider should ensure that he performs the job assigned to him well or send him packing.”
“Going forward, GES should also consider developing and controlling its own digital platform for its recruitment and promotion exercises and stop relying on private vendors whose technical competence is in serious doubt.”
Qualified Staff Rejected, Ineligible Applicants Shortlisted
Under the official August 2026 application criteria, candidates applying for Director II positions must possess a second degree and at least four years of active service in their current rank. Yet, Senior High School headteachers and Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) members with over nine years on the rank report being arbitrarily disqualified.
Applicants who successfully uploaded their documents were met with paradoxical status notices confirming successful validation, followed immediately by rejection:
Staff ID: [Redacted]
Rank applying for: Director II
Submission: SUCCESS☑️
Validation: SUCCESS☑️
“Sorry! You were not shortlisted for the 2026 promotion examination.”
When challenged on why validated veteran teachers were excluded, the portal vendor offered shifting explanations, eventually tagging rejection messages with the non-answer: “Reason: Other.”
Pressed directly on why long-serving educators with master’s degrees were dropped, the vendor stated:
“Being on the rank since 2017 and having a master’s degree is not the only criteria GES used for validation.”
Conversely, an estimated 10,000 unqualified applicants managed to bypass basic system filters and were invited to choose examination centers. To fix the breach after the fact, the vendor is attempting to manually cross-reference applicant data against Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) payroll record a move critics say exposes the absolute failure of the software.
Alorvi noted the absurdity of using manual workarounds for a costly digital system:
“So, we have an awful situation where a manual process is going to be used to validate a digital platform. How? Teachers can’t accept this high level of incompetence that is likely to crash their dreams.”
Calls for Blame to Fall on Vendor and Procuring Officers
As frustration boils over on teacher communication platforms, educators are raising allegations of corruption and demanding that those responsible for hiring the software firm be held to account alongside the vendor.
One aggrieved teacher highlighted the frustration of law-abiding educators watching ineligible colleagues bypass rules:
“I had my Deputy Director promotion with a colleague two years ago. Although not qualified according to the advert floated by the GES, he applied for promotion to the Director II grade and received a message that he had been shortlisted… How can the GES allow those of us who are law abiding to be cheated by colleagues who are lawless? What is Prof Davis telling us? We hear people are paying money to bypass the system.”
During a conference call organized by GES Director-General Prof. Ernest Kofi Davis, the vendor attempted to deflect responsibility onto the applicants, claiming teachers failed to submit PDF files or uploaded lecture notes instead of certificates excuses flatly rejected by affected staff.
With the November examination dates fast approaching, stakeholders insist that political leadership and the GES administration must insulate public confidence by exposing how the vendor was selected and rectifying the system immediately:
“The portal vendor, and not the GES Director-General or the NDC Government, must be held responsible if the system fails to achieve the desired results.”
Teachers across the country are now demanding a full investigation into the procurement of the portal, an immediate audit of the shortlisted candidates, and the correction of all wrongful disqualifications before the promotion exams commence.
