A coalition of Pre-Tertiary Teacher Unions in Education have expressed their displeasure about the non-payment of their Occupational Pension Scheme by the government and regulated by the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA).
In a jointly issued statement, the teacher Unions indicated that it has been close to a year since any of their members received their payment. As such, the Union served notice to the government and the NPRA that they will boycott the pension scheme by March this year, 2023 if nothing is done about it.
“We, the Pre-Tertiary Unions in Education would like to bring to the attention of the public through the media, the unfortunate developments with regards to the non- payment of deductions by government to the Ghana Education Service Occupational Pension Scheme (GESOPS).
“The last payment from the Controller and Accountant General’s Department to our Pension Scheme was for the month of March 2022, which was paid in January 2023. This means we have nine (9) months outstanding.”
Pre-Tertiary Teacher Unions
The Pre-Tertiary Teacher Unions in Education, meanwhile, calculated the amount the government is owing them which sums up to millions of cedis.
“Using the monthly contribution of the month of March 2022 as basis, we estimate that contributions in respect of members of the Scheme in arrears are in the region of Four Hundred and Thirty-Three Million, Three Hundred and Seventy-Nine Thousand, Eight Hundred and Nineteen Ghana Cedis, Ninety Pesewas (GH 433,379,819.90).”
Pre-Tertiary Teacher Unions
The Danger of the Situation
The union explained that the resultant danger of the situation is, the educational worker is being denied any investment value of his or her contribution.
“In light of the above, we the Unions in Pre-Tertiary Education, wish to state emphatically that if by the end of February 2023, all the arrears are not paid, we have no other option than as the first line of action, take the necessary steps to ensure that the Regulator’s, (National Pensions Regulatory Authority, NPRA) fees are not paid effective March 2023.”
Pre-Tertiary Teacher Unions
Meanwhile, the undersigned Union Secretaries are: Thomas T. Musah, General Secretary of Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT); Eric Agbe-Carbonu, President, National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT); Mark Dankyira Korankye, General Secretary of TEWU; and King King Ali Awudu, President of CCT-GH.
The Ghana Education Service Occupational Pension Scheme is a tier-2 pension scheme registered and regulated by the National Pensions Regulatory Authority under the National Pension Act, 2008 (Act 766) as amended.
The scheme’s membership is drawn from employee unions under the Ghana Education Scheme including the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana (CCTGH) and the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU).
The Scheme is managed by a Board of Trustees with representation from relevant institutions such as the Ministries of Education and Finance, the Attorney General’s Department and the various unions representing its 320,000 strong membership. Like all tier-2 pension schemes, members contribute 5 percent of the total social security of 18.5% which is deducted from their salaries monthly.
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