Updated 8 Conditions For GES Study Leave With Pay 2023 Announced | How to apply

Updated 8 Conditions For GES Study Leave With Pay 2023 Announced | How to apply

Ghana Education Service (GES) usually offers study to its staff. The study leaves opportunity is offered annually. The study takes two forms. One form of study leave is without pay. The other type is a study with pay. Study leave with pay is preferred by most employees. The leave with pay is preferred because the staff has the chance to earn money while at school to upgrade his or her skill. However, the study leaves with comes with several conditions. The conditions are normally updated to reflect the present state of the Ghana Education Service (GES). The latest update to conditions for GES study leave with pay was announced in the latest memo to regional directors by the director general of the service

In the Director General’s notice to directors and other staff, he said:
‘In line with the GES study leave with pay policy, the employee of the service should satisfy the following conditions to qualify for the award of study leave with pay’

Updated conditions for study leave with pay

1. The minimum number of years to serve before qualifying for the grant of study leave with pay is 3 (three) years of satisfactory service. A beneficiary of study leave with pay shall be bonded for the number of years served at the institution plus one (1) year.

commentary
This provision implies that the longer one waits to obtain his or her study leave, the longer he or she will be bonded to serve. Serving means returning to the Ghana Education Service (GES) to work. However, is not clear whether a provision is meant to return the staff to his last post where he or she worked and obtain the study leave with pay.

2. An applicant (staff of GES) who has served in a designated deprived area for two (2) years may be eligible for consideration for the grant of study leave with pay.

commentary
Probably, the provision was meant to motivate staff to accept posting to deprived areas. However, the Ghana Education Service and the government are yet to classify which communities are qualified to be called deprived areas to award the grant. This implements this provision to be discretionary. In some instances, people in urban areas in the same district continue to be selected over people in places that can be considered deprived areas.

3. Non-professional graduate teachers should have served for at least one (1) year before being eligible for any of the Post Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) courses.

commentary
The fundamental provisions that qualify staff for study leave are both two (2) years and three (3) years respectively. It is therefore unclear why a secondary provision will mention one (1) year. Most postgraduate diplomas in education courses are done mostly by distance and not on-campus full-time programs.

4. Staff of the service returning from secondment must serve a minimum of two (2) years before they become eligible for study leave with pay.

Commentary
First come first serve policy is imbedded in this clause. Even when a staff who has been employed first but left for a secondment job, such a staff is considered a late commer on his return, according to this provision.

5. Staff of the service who vacate, leave the service, and are re-appointed/ re-engaged must serve a minimum of five (5) years before being eligible for study leave with pay.

Commentary
A combination of punitive measures and the first come first principle is embedded in this clause. Vacating a post means exiting the job without official communication in the form of resignation or through any other official reasons. Staff belonging to the category may have been considered deviant and/or latecomers. It is the reason they are required to wait five (5) years.

See also: 2023 GES Study Leave With Pay Announced | Regional quota revealed

6. A staff who does not qualify for the grant of study leave with pay in the first year cannot apply again in the second year of his or her studies. The staff must apply for study leave with pay to pursue the course

Commentary
Some teachers proceed to further studies without study leave with pay. The situation occurs due to varied reasons. Sometimes, the list of selected staff is released after candidates had paid the admission fee for their further studies. Such staff have a big challenge to either abandoned the course to remain at post or to proceed to further studies hoping miracles will happen to get their names onto the final list. Most candidates do not manage to get their names onto the final list for selected candidates for study leave with pay after proceeding to further studies without pay.

The disappointed candidates try their luck to apply for the study with pay in their second year. However, the Ghana Education Service considers such staff as having vacated posts in their first year. The best the staff could get is a study leave without pay which is usually not given as well.

7. A staff who is eligible for study leave with pay must have a minimum of two years to serve after the course. For example, a staff who is fifty-five (55) years and above cannot apply for study leave with pay to pursue a course that lasts four (4) years or more. He or she can however apply to pursue courses that have a duration/ between one (1) and three (3) years.

Commentary
The primary reason for offering study leave with pay to staff is to help in the retraining process. Acquired knowledge and skill are meant to be impacted at the workplace. It is therefore unwise to spend on knowledge that will not be used to the advantage of the employer.

The compulsory retirement age is sixty (60) years. In order not to spend money to obtain knowledge that will be sent home soonest, the provision is meant to gain as much as possible from the worker.

8. A staff shall be eligible for study leave with pay subject to the following:
a. Good conduct and performance
b. Recommendation by the immediate supervisor

Commentary
Despite the good intention of this provision, it has been used to penalize staff unjustifiably by supervisors. Also, the recommendation of some immediate supervisors is ignored sometimes by the higher level of management.

Application procedure for study leave with pay

1. Staff who wished to obtain study leave with pay must pick up the application form from the District/Municipal/Metropolitan education offices

2. The staff must fill four (4) copies of the application form as duplicates and attach true certified copies of certificates to the four copies of the form

3. The application must be submitted to the regional director through the district office

4. The regional director would submit the list of all the fully qualified beneficiaries to the director of Human Resource Management and Development at the GES headquarters at a specified date.

Reference: Ghana Education Service