Prez Mahama Advocates Declaring Teacher Vacancies at District Level Not Just in Accra

“Why do we sit in Accra and recruit teachers? Vacancies must be declared at the district level – Mahama admits” 

Prez Dramani Mahama has reiterated the need for a more decentralised approach to teacher recruitment, arguing that the practice of managing recruitment centrally from Accra is both outdated and ineffective in addressing the diverse staffing needs across the country. 

Speaking at the presentation of the National Economic Dialogue report by the National Education Consultative Committee, Mahama called for vacancies to be declared and filled at the district level, where the actual needs of schools are better understood.

He questioned the logic of a centralised system that attempts to assign teachers to regions and communities with which it has little direct engagement. “Why do we sit in Accra and recruit teachers?” he asked, pointing out that this model has consistently failed to resolve the persistent staffing imbalances between urban centres and rural districts.

Mahama argued that empowering district education offices with the authority to oversee recruitment would allow for a more equitable distribution of human resources within the education sector. Local authorities, he contended, are in a stronger position to assess the specific challenges schools face and to identify appropriately qualified personnel to meet those needs.

Such a shift, he noted, would not only lead to improved responsiveness and efficiency but would also strengthen accountability at the local level. District leaders would be directly responsible for ensuring that every school under their supervision is adequately staffed, a responsibility that central agencies are often too removed to manage effectively.

This call for decentralisation aligns with broader efforts to reform public sector governance and improve service delivery in education. Mahama’s remarks underscore the importance of aligning recruitment practices with local realities in order to address structural inequalities that continue to hinder progress in many parts of the country.

His position has added renewed urgency to longstanding discussions around education sector reform, particularly regarding how policy and administrative frameworks can be restructured to promote fairness, transparency, and better learning outcomes nationwide.

At the heart of Mahama’s appeal is a recognition that sustainable solutions in education must be grounded in proximity, context, and trust. By granting local offices greater autonomy in recruitment, the nation can begin to dismantle the systemic inefficiencies that centralised control has long perpetuated, and, in doing so, ensure that every child, regardless of geography, has access to qualified and committed teachers.