President of the coalition of Concerned teachers, Ali Awudu, has lamented that the Ghana Education Service (GES) is not attending to the needs of pre tertiary teachers across the country.
Explaining the reason why the pre tertiary teachers are threatening a strike,;he indicated that allowances and upgrades amongst other things were all contributing factors to the threatened strike.
He further lamented on the poor condition of services they are being given, lamenting especially on accommodation.
“Within the year if I want to rent a place,;my employer should be able to give me not less than Ghc12,000 cedis to rent a place which will be deducted from my salary in bits over a period of time. We have other allowances like our vehicle maintenance allowance which is not being given.”
Ali Awudu
Mr. Awudu also averred that the teachers that have used their own resources;to upgrade themselves in higher education are not given the upgrade they deserve.
“When they come back the Ghana Education Service refuses to upgrade them. Meanwhile, first degree is an entry requirement. So, if somebody goes to attain their first degree,;as the person comes, the person should be put in the appropriate scheme but GES is not doing that.
“Unfortunately, from next year, all the teachers that will be coming into the service will have a first degree. From next year the minimum requirement of Ghana Education Service is going to be a degree requirement. Why is it that somebody who has gone to the training colleague;and the person has come out and has used her own resources to upgrade and you refuse to upgrade them?”
Ali Awudu
Pre tertiary teachers to embark on strike
This comes on the back of three Pre tertiary education teachers threatening to embark on a strike in September if the Ghana Education Service refuses to work towards financing the upgrade of teacher’s skills and providing them with modern aid used in teaching as well.
Three pre-tertiary education teacher unions have raised concerns over what they describe as developments hampering their academic activities in schools in the country.
The issues include teaching and learning resources, contact and working hours, upgrading of teachers, and issues regarding promotions.
The groups also raised concerns about allowances, transfers, signing of performance contracts, and the refusal to appoint teachers in offices as heads and assistant heads of schools.
The teacher unions in question are the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT),;National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT).
Conditions, blame for poor quality of education
These issues according to the teachers are to blame for the poor quality of education, which reflects in the results of students, especially at the first cycle institutions.
In a statement, the teacher unions said if their concerns are not addressed by the close of September 2021, they will not hesitate to lay down their tools.Also
“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.”
Teachers Union
