Revealed: Common Mistakes That Will Make GES Officers Reject Your Letter As A Teacher.

Teachers are highest number of employees on the Government of Ghana payroll. Ghana Education Service as employers of teachers have designated systems in place in which all employees are expected to follow during interviews, promotions, transfers and so forth.

READ ALSO:GES Recruitment: All Documents You Need For Your Application And Top Tips

In a video going viral, Sarkodie is heard in a song endorsing President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo for solving the power crises and also providing free SHS.

Common knowledge indicate most teachers struggling to forward their promotional letters, transfer letters and other pertinent documents via their nearest GES offices to the Regional or National level. A concerned observer at the Informed Teacher Network (ITN) has taken the pain to lay down some common mistakes which might make GES officers unable to accept letters from teachers.

The Lead Educator who made this issue paramount to him wrote;

***Whenever its time to write any of these letters, we are found wanting. Most embarrassingly, we go through so much to write, it gets handed back to us to go and do corrections.

In a video going viral, Sarkodie is heard in a song endorsing President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo for solving the power crises and also providing free SHS.

Some of the most common reasons identified as why our letters get rejected include the following :

1. Terrible grammar: Facts gathered from GES officers suggests that, a chunk of teachers even though may have good self expression, a lot more just can’t put pen to paper and communicate professionally in writing. It is a mark of credibility deficit as well as a dent on the teaching profession for a teacher to submit a letter which is replete with poorly constructed sentences and without respect to subject verb agreement (Concord) to the office of Education Directorate. The lack of or inappropriate punctuations, spelling errors and grammatical mistakes in our letters creates confusion as it corrupts the letter’s intended meaning. It is advised that, you consider proofreading your letters thoroughly before you submit. If you don’t have command over the English language to identify grammatical loopholes, kindly hire a lawyer to assist you because there is no shame in admitting that you don’t know.
2. Wrong/improper address. This has got many letters rejected than any other issue. If you are in doubt about who to address the letter to, please kindly find out first before you even attempt writing. For instance, currently, if you are applying for upgrade, you have to address it directly to the director general through the regional director through the district/municipal director.
3. Missing unique identity details of the writer in heading. These letters have special feature attached to the heading that doesn’t conform to what we leant as formal letter. For instance, headings of letters coming to the office should bear the heading (eg Application for casual leave, the writer’s name, staff ID, registered number, SSNIT No. Etc). Any letter that does not follow the above format will be rejected.
4. Use of informal language. Never write “Dear Sir/Madam”. Know the gender of your recipient. Contracted forms of words should be discouraged and make sure you go straight to the point. No long talk. The format of the letter should conform with what we know to be GES standard. The language and its mechanics must be formal as expected. A subscription like “Yours sincerely” for your director is unprofessional even if the director is your side chick.

5. Not following preferences /protocols laid down by your recipient. Someone directors state explicitly that, all letters to the district/municipal office should be written through the Circuit Supervisor or heads and they are to attach a memo before it reaches them. It is for a good reason though beaurocratic. Just Give then what they want to save yourself from frustration.

6. Wrong use of technological terms. Words such as, reinstatement, reactivation, reengagment. Know what they mean with respect to GES human resource management and when to use them.

7. Finally, improper dressing. As professionals, there is the need for us to dress properly whenever we are going to the GES Directorates for whatever reason because some of the officers and even Directors are very observant and critical of teachers dressing. There’s this embarrassing scene sometime ago in Ejura-sekyedumase municipality 2014. A teacher had come to submit a letter for upgrading to the rank of a principal superintendent. He was in long sleeves with the galamsey type of sleepers. He met the deputy director at the office of the registry.
   Come and see how he was lambasted. The deputy director instructed the officer at the registry not to accept his documents until he appears as a professional teacher. “Go back and wash your dirt stained clothes, iron them and dress properly before we accept your documents” he stressed.

Yes, many of them are critical about dressing. Dressing professionally tells a lot about your person and will determine how people treat you- you dress the way you want to be addressed.

Do share – Selected letter samples to be treated later comprehensively. Anticipate.
Lead Educators #informedteachersnetwork***

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