All Teachers Alliance Ghana (ATAG), has lamented that government is not being fair with the newly trained teachers who have been posted to various places of their service since February 2022.

In a statement by ATAG, the group indicated that its been six months down the line since these newly trained teachers were posted but they are yet to receive their identification numbers and let alone go to the Ministry of Finance to take their biometrics for onward payment of salary.

“Government of Ghana is not being fair with the newly trained teachers who had been posted to various places. In times when public sector workers are crying for Cost of Living Allowance (COLA), the government has largely remained deaf ear to all appeals.”
All Teachers Alliance Ghana

ATAG noted that these young professionals have been left to struggle in the face of general hardships prevailing in the country. According to the Alliance, some of them can hardly meet their daily upkeep whilst others are resorting to excessive borrowing to survive.

This, according to ATAG, is affecting the teachers both psychologically and economically and affecting their quality of state of mind.

“Many of these young professionals are starving at their various stations and the level of economic and psychological torture is unbearable for them. It is sad teacher unions had remained silent knowing very well that it is not easy for these young ones. Since 2017, newly trained teachers had been paid three months after postings, so what is going on this time around?”
All Teachers Alliance Ghana

Quality education will become a mirage

The Alliance indicated that government’s call for quality education will virtually become a mirage because it lacks the necessary urgency toward pressing issues that confront the sector. ATAG added that educational policies and infrastructure development cannot alone give the education sector the necessary positive impact if teachers are treated with this level of contempt.

“All the good efforts of the government towards achieving world-class educational quality and meeting the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 will crumble when teachers are treated as an afterthought in policy making and implementation.”
All Teachers Alliance Ghana

ATAG then appealed to the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Ministry of Education to as a matter of urgency, attend to the predicaments of these newly trained teachers who have been left hopeless and suffering in their various stations. It cautioned that government should not wait to hear some of them lose their lives out of frustrations or sink into perpetual desperation before moving to their rescue.

“The country’s economic situation is not good for every public sector worker and if we should leave these new professionals in their current situation, we deny them their rights and treat them unfairly for no fault of theirs. The government had no justification whatsoever to say he has no money to pay these newly posted trained teachers on time rather than leaving them suffering against their will. We maintain that it is not fair.”
All Teachers Alliance Ghana