The Ghana Education Service (GES) claims that the pre-tertiary teacher unions have no justification for going on strike.
The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT) are dissatisfied with what they see as insufficient teaching and learning materials, contact and working hours, and teacher upgrading.
The unions have set a September deadline for the government to resolve their concerns.
At a press conference in Accra on Thursday, August 26, 2021, the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, Professor Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, addressed the teacher unions’ concerns.
“During the press conference by the teacher unions, they said they are doing more than they should be doing but let me indicate that, they are not doing more than they should be doing. If for any reason they are doing more than that, I want to assure you that at the time that we were drawing the calendar when COVID-19 broke out, we had extensive discussions with stakeholders, and they were key stakeholders in those discussions, and we agreed on the modalities and contact hours, so they can’t be doing more,” he said.
Concerns of teacher unions
The problems include teaching and learning materials, contact and work hours, teacher upgrading, and promotion issues.
Not only did the organizations express worries about the aforementioned, but also regarding allowances, transfers, the signing of performance contracts, and the reluctance to assign teachers to positions as heads and deputy heads of schools.
According to instructors, these problems are to blame for the low quality of education, which is reflected in students’ performance, particularly at first-cycle institutions.
The teacher unions said in a statement that if their issues are not addressed by September 2021, they would not hesitate to lay down their tools.
“We, the teacher unions are hereby serving notice that if by the close of September 2021, all these issues are not resolved in full by the employer, then we will have no option than to advise ourselves in the best interest of our members within the framework of our collective agreement and the applicable laws of Ghana.”
Concerning the signing of the performance contract in particular, the organizations said that “this is inappropriate since the unions are unaware of the deal’s contents and consequences.” We urge the GES management to halt the signing of performance contracts until the matter has been addressed with the unions”.
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