“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865).
I find news of the arrest and detention of a teacher—Mr Daniel Hammond, on the orders of the DCE of Ekumfi, Mr Ibrahim Dawson repugnant and sickening. Mr Daniel Hammond was said to have insulted the DCE hence the order by the DCE for the teacher’s arrest on Friday March 4, 2016. What a brazen display of power? I couldn’t imagine this happening in a country such as ours.
It is disgusting how some politicians carry themselves in society these days. The story reminds me of a similar experience barely a month ago:
Three men walked to my office and demanded to see the Director. They introduced themselves as: a government communication team member; an opposition communication team member; and a journalist.
I informed them the Director wasn’t available at the time and they asked to see his next in command. There are four Deputy Directors in charge of specific duties so I asked for a briefing to enable me direct them to the appropriate person.
“They had just finished a radio discussion programme and were returning home when they chanced upon some pupils cleaning a drain around their school. They were not happy about the fact that the pupils were performing the activity without protective wears (wellington boots, gloves, nose masks etc.).
They approached the supervising teachers to enquire why they had to engage the children in that activity without any protection. The teachers were not happy about their intervention, and one particular teacher abused them verbally. They were very sorry for the pupils for having such characters as their teachers. They had come to report to the Director and to find out if it was right for such persons to be assigned to handle young children.
They had already been to the police station to lodge a complaint and were about to go to the Volta Regional Minister when they remembered that the teachers work under the supervision of the GES hence their coming to see Director.”
I thanked them for coming and apologized on behalf of the teachers. I further reminded them, albeit politely that education is for public good and that collaboration between stakeholders was necessary to improve educational outcomes. Besides just complaining and reporting teachers, they could use their contacts and exposure to solicit social support for schools in the form of donation of equipment for clean-up exercises in schools.
To satisfy their desire to see a “big-man”, I took them to my immediate superior—the head of Administration and Finance, who, like I did earlier promptly apologized on behalf of the teachers assuring the visitors the development will not happen again. The visitors were not satisfied, hence it became necessary to take them to the school to meet the teachers. (That was indeed a wrong move as it turned out).
We got into our official vehicle and the three visitors followed in the NDC man’s vehicle. At the school tempers flared up as the politicians insisted the teachers apologized for what happened earlier. It took a great deal of work to have all the teachers to offer an apology.
One morning, three or so days after the encounter, while sipping a cup of beverage on my porch and planning my day I received a call from the NDC communication team member. He had called to find out what management had done to the teacher who abused them most?
But seriously, what should management do to a teacher who, while he was performing his duties in school was accosted by a passerby and challenged about the appropriateness of his techniques?