President of Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG), Prince Obeng-Himah, has disclosed that the Association has suspended its strike action and consequently restored teaching activities.
According to him, he has received the “validation” of CETAG’s demands for improved working conditions from government albeit it came with some challenges. Nonetheless, Mr Obeng-Himah explained that the fact that an attempt has been made means that an entire semester has been saved.
The Council, Mr Obeng-Himah indicated, has decided to suspend the action and wait patiently till government pays monies to its members at the end of the month. The CETAG President expressed that the communique churned out by the Association calling off its strike action demanded government to “deal swiftly” with the challenges of teachers in receiving their remunerations. He explained that this is to ensure that every unpaid member who is deserving of his salary is remunerated come February.
“We’ve also indicated our displeasure at the way the fair wages have delayed in concluding the 2022 conditions of service with us. We have again said that we are expecting that by the end of February, we would have concluded on that. On the basis of that, the strike is suspended and teaching services are restored”.
Prince Obeng-Himah
Commenting on how teachers will make up for lost time in the semester, Mr Obeng-Himah revealed that the Association will resort to internal arrangement as the extension of the semester or otherwise is solely in the hands of the administrators. However, he intimated that they will do their best to ensure that the semester is “safely dealt with” and the academic calendar subsequently exhausted.
“… We as tutors, we are prepared to collaborate with the administrators, our principals and our affiliate universities to ensure students do not lose out on anything at all that they ought to have had within the semester”.
Prince Obeng-Himah
CETAG to resume on Tuesday
The leadership of the Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG) suspended its indefinite strike action against government, today, January 24, 2022 following a unanimous decision taken at an emergency meeting on January 17.
Contained in a statement, it emphasized that CETAG reached its decision after “validating January salaries” and the implementation and payment of 2017-2020 Conditions of Service (CoS).
As a result, the Association revealed that “teaching will be restored in all the 46 public colleges of education effective January 25”.
CETAG highlighted some grievances it desires government to respond to in due time. Notably, the Association indicated that there have been widely observed “disproportionate anomalies” in the payment of the arrears as seen in the validation process across all the 46 public colleges of education. It insisted that these arrears must be paid fully in February by the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD).
“Unequivocally, the leadership of CETAG would like to express its utmost displeasure and grave concern about the manner in which the payment of the 2017-2020 CoS arrears has been implemented”.
CETAG
CETAG noted that it expects the Fair Wages and Salary Commission to re-engage the leadership of the Association to conclude the negotiations of 2021 CoS before the end of February 2022.
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