Why your letters would be rejected at the GES offices and how to avoid such embarrassments- written by Lead Educators of of Informed Teachers Network. As a teacher, from the very day you receive your, appointment letter, your employer and his representatives become your pen pals. As long as you remain in the service, you will write at least one form of letter before the end of every year.It’s either you are writing to your Headteacher, the Circuit Supervisor, the District/Municipal Director, the Regional Director or through them to the Director General at the top. Some of the letters we write often includes and not limited to? Acceptance letter Assumption of duty letter. Application for reactivation/reinstatement/ re-engagment Application for promotion /upgrade Application for casual leave/ study leave/anual leave /maternity leave /sick leave Application for transfers / change of management unit etc However, 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. Some of the most common reasons identified as why our letters get rejected include the following : 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 Please kindly contact Apexnewsgh on apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible publications.  

GES STUDY LEAVE: Know these facts about 2020 GES study leave with Pay- Many teachers in the GES have a lot of mind baffling questions which needs answers. Have you ever bothered about getting answers for yourself? Where and who will help you get the answers? Well, Listengh.net education portal will help our readers find more relevant educational content that will satisfy all curiosities with respect to matters related to the Ghana Education Service (GES). READ: UCC changes reopening date for fresh and continuing students DID YOU KNOW THESE FACTS ABOUT THE GES STUDY LEAVE WITH PAY? Will study leave with pay still be effective as top-up programmes have been introduced by the various educational institutions? Study leave with pay will gradually be scrapped because GES has realized that you can further your studies while working and receiving salary at the same time. Due to this circumstance, study leave with pay will be considered as a waste of resources and a cheat. When this measure becomes effective, one can do the Sandwich or Distance programs without being a victim of the rumour that the regular has more advantage against the Sandwich. Does it mean they would grant it this year? Yes, but early next year because as it stands only the University of Cape Coast (UCC) admissions are out but other universities are to resume in January, next year. Do you apply for admission before applying for study leave with pay or you apply after gaining admission into the university? Previously, individuals used to apply for admission and also apply for study leave at the same time while waiting for the outcome. But currently, the trend has changed per the directive that came this year (2020), you apply for the study leave first before applying for university admissions. What do you do in case you gain admission but you are denied a study leave with pay? When you apply for study leave with pay and you denied, it means you either not qualified or the number allocated to that particular course is full hence you either have to defer the course for next year or you go-ahead to pursue the course without salary. That is when you can fund yourself without the salary. Better still; you can make an internal arrangement with your headteacher so that you can go to school to study and comes back to school to teach 2 days out of 5. My question is what is GES doing about the study leave with pay applicants whose admissions have been delayed due to the abnormal times? From the checks of Listengh.net, thousands of teachers applied for study leave with pay in this particular year. Many applicants are dumbfounded as to when their status will be made known to them but applicants are to expect it when universities resume next year. LISTENGH.NET Please kindly contact apexnewsgh.com on apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications