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The Ghana Education Service (GES) has terminated the appointment of all pupil teachers across the country. The action according to the GES was taken because the affected teachers have failed to upgrade themselves. The acting Director General of the GES, Charles Aheto Tsegah who confirmed the decision to Citi News disclosed that the dismissed pupil teachers will be replaced by trained teachers. The GES boss also insisted that the decision has nothing to do with a planned job retrenchment exercise by government. He said: �Even if government is doing retrenchment�it is doing it in a manner that is to ensure some sanity, it deals with those people who are on contract.�According to him, people employed by government on a contract basis do not qualify to be called �a government worker.� Aheto Tsegah was dismayed that Ghanaians are criticizing the government for the directive saying, �you have been given a duration for which you are engaged, the time is up, we say go and then it is becoming a national furore. I don�t get it!� He further explained that the pupil teachers had a specific duration for which they were expected to work, :the time is up and we are saying that as of 1st September, anybody who does not have a reviewed appointment which is approved by our system to continue teaching for a certain duration cannot continue to be in any classroom.� The GES is currently employing professional teachers to fill the vacant positions.The Service is instituting specific measures to improve the nation�s educational system following the abysmal performance of students who sat for the 2014 West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE). An �Early Grade Reading Assessment� undertaken by the GES revealed that 9% of primary two pupils can neither read nor understand English or any Ghanaian language properly. The Service has subsequently announced that a �reading hour� will be added to the education curriculum of all schools beginning this 2014/2015 academic year.