The pre-tertiary teacher unions in Ghana comprising, the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT), and National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) have collectively released a document demanding their inclusion in the manifesto drafting of the various political parties to contest the 2024 Presidential election.

The alliance stated that the government over the years has been the entity to make decisions regarding education with little or no consideration for the input of the teachers. The document also touched on other issues such as better conditions of service to teachers and the curriculum used by public schools generally.

The General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Mr. Thomas Musah, stated that the alliance aims to ensure quality education at the pre-tertiary level.

He emphasized the need to avoid creating a class society in education which will lead to disparity in the access to and delivery of education. He added that the alliance demands that policies must be put in place to ensure that the haves and the have-nots have equal access to quality education.

Furthermore, the General Secretary indicated that the government needs to provide an enabling learning environment where learning and teaching can take place effectively. He stated that the lack of classroom blocks and other essential resources in some schools impedes the process of teaching and learning.

Moreover, Mr. Thomas Musah indicated that the alliance wants the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy to be reviewed to better suit Ghana’s educational needs. He specified that the equality principle that the policy encourages is not beneficial to the students. He therefore suggested that the equity principle should be adopted when implementing the program.

“We have operated this particular policy since 2017…there are three things that must guide this policy; we have the distributive policy, the redistributive policy, and the regulatory policy. The redistributive or equality principle is what we are doing now. We are saying that we have to take a second look at it and have a review”.
Mr. Thomas Musah

Remuneration For Teachers

Mr. Thomas Musah further stated that teachers do not get enough remuneration for their work. He indicated that teachers are not motivated to perform their duties because the government always neglects them in terms of compensation citing their huge number as a factor.

He stressed that manifesto promises of political parties to teachers over the years are not implemented. He argued that labor is the most important factor in production therefore teachers who are at the helm of providing quality labor for the country’s development must be well compensated.

Moreover, Mr. Thomas Musah specified that the alliance has issues with teacher deployment. He emphasized that teachers must be posted to where their skills are needed. He stated that teachers are currently being posted to areas where they are underutilized.

The pre-tertiary teachers association recently demanded better conditions of service during the Building Ghana Tour of the NDC flagbearer in the Northern region. The demand made to the Presidential candidate did not yield any positive outcome as Mr. John Dramani Mahama indicated that the current economic conditions of the country do not grant him the liberty of making promises for better conditions of service for unions.

The flagbearer of the NDC however assured the pre-tertiary teacher unions of his commitment to solving the accommodation problems that teachers face. He argued that providing accommodation for teachers will reduce their financial burdens while ensuring that accommodation does not become a reason for teachers rejecting posting to certain communities.

Conclusively, the pre-tertiary teachers’ alliance is not the first entity to demand a say in the manifesto drafting of political parties. Recently, the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) made a similar request where the association demanded to have a social contract with political parties to ensure that policies in their manifestoes are delivered on.