News:
March 27, 2024
Dr. Clement Apaak, Deputy Ranking Member on the Education Committee of Parliament has lauded the various pre-tertiary teacher unions for giving listening ears to the National Labour Commission (NLC) reading their strike.
According to him, it is a good signal that the Teacher Unions have agreed to convey the outcome of their dialogue with the Ministry of Education to their members, adding that this gives a ray of hope that we could be seeing a resolution of the reasons that precipitated their strike action.
The Deputy Ranking Member speaking on TV3’s New Day program on Wednesday opined that teachers by nature would have to be pushed beyond what they can tolerate to decide to lay down their tools, “and so when teachers decide to take the kind of action that the teacher unions in the pre-tertiary educational sector took, it was because they didn’t find avenues and they didn’t get the needed audience as they said in terms of the employer engaging with them and giving them serious assurances in terms of addressing their grievances”.
Three pre-tertiary teacher unions, including the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers, Ghana (CCT-GH) laid down their tools indefinitely on March 20th demanding from the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service (GES) better condition of service.
They demanded among other things:
1) that the Ministry and for that matter the Ghana Education Service release the laptops for which 30 percent of the cost have been deducted from their salary be given to about a 100 thousand of their colleagues who are yet to receive theirs.
2) again issues about a lack of a service scheme interns of a document that will lay out the rules and regulations or guidelines about their movements within the parameters, in terms of moving from one level to another , how appointments are made and what to expect.
These relieves the deputy Ranking Member said are legitimate, adding that he is even ashamed that his committee (Educational Committee) has not been forceful in holding duty bearers accountable as far as the Educational sector is concerned.
Meanwhile, the National Labour Commission (NLC) has directed the Teacher Unions to return to the classroom and subject themselves to the negotiation table with the relevant institutions.
Ghanamps.com