The Education Minister’s comments in the video about manual data entry within the Ghana Education Service (GES) require an important correction. The digital systems he is calling for had already been introduced before the current GES leadership took office.
These were operational platforms developed to address the very administrative difficulties the Minister now describes.
The digitalisation the Minister is advocating already exists within GES. What is required now is its restoration, sustained use and further improvement.
For the Minister’s information, GES began pursuing digital reforms in 2017 to reduce paperwork, improve data management and shorten service delivery times. These reforms included the GES Recruitment and Promotions platforms, Smart Workplace, the Self-Placement Recruitment Platform and the Ghana Education Service Management Information System (GESMIS).
The functions and achievements of these platforms deserve clarification.
Promotions and staff administration
The recruitment and promotions systems streamlined staff administration, allowing promotions and related matters to be processed more quickly and reducing repeated requests for supporting documents. These reforms directly addressed delays and paperwork in services affecting staff welfare and career progression.
Recruitment and self-placement
The Self-Placement Recruitment Platform, introduced in 2024, enabled newly recruited teachers to select their preferred regions, districts, and schools and print their appointment letters online. More than 12,000 newly recruited teachers across the country printed their appointment letters in less than four hours.
This platform demonstrated the capacity of digital systems to simplify recruitment and placement, reduce administrative burdens and give teachers greater choice over where they would work.
Internal correspondence and official communication
Smart Workplace was introduced to digitise memos, correspondence and other official communications at GES Headquarters. It enabled internal business to be processed electronically, reducing dependence on the physical movement of files.
Customised official email accounts were also introduced for staff, beginning at headquarters, with implementation progressively extending towards the school level.
Data management across the Service
GESMIS was designed to improve data collection, processing and management from schools through district and regional offices to headquarters. It aimed to reduce repeated manual data entry and provide a coordinated basis for administration and decision-making.
Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum officially launched GESMIS in 2024 as part of the reforms to strengthen efficiency, transparency, accountability and service delivery.
All these achievements are documented in the official handing-over notes to the current Director-General of the Service.
The Minister should therefore distinguish between the absence of digital systems and the discontinuation of existing ones. GES had already established platforms to address these processes. Their use has since been discontinued, bringing back the administrative burdens they were introduced to reduce.
Digital transformation requires continuity. Platforms must be maintained, staff must be supported to use them, and implementation challenges must be resolved. Discontinuing their use and then presenting the resulting manual processes as evidence that digitalisation has yet to begin gives an incomplete account of the institution’s progress.
The immediate task is to establish why these platforms are no longer being used, restore their operation and address any technical or administrative gaps. Where improvements are needed, the existing systems provide a foundation to build on.
The Minister should review the handing-over notes, engage the officers responsible for implementing these reforms and obtain a full briefing on the platforms’ functions and current status. This would enable the Ministry to direct resources to restore and strengthen capabilities already developed.
GES staff and stakeholders deserve continuity in service delivery. Ghanaians also deserve an explanation of why established digital platforms have been discontinued.
