Advertisement

GNAT deplores freezing the salaries of 60 teachers

The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has deplored the freezing of the salaries of 60 junior high school head teachers in the East Akim Municipality in the Eastern Region for their failure to submit mock examination results to the Municipal Directorate of Education.

“Much as GNAT does not condone wrong doing on the part of teachers, it is our candid opinion that handing down such harsh punishment to teachers will be counterproductive. Even teachers who are on interdiction receive half salaries, so for a District Director of Education to embargo the full salaries of heads of JHSs ...is most unfortunate,” it said.

The acting President of GNAT, Mr Alexander Mawusi Buadi, who expressed the sentiments on Wednesday at the launch of this year’s GNAT Week and World Teachers Day celebrations in Accra, said that GNAT would continue to support measures put in place by the government to make the teacher deliver better, but not one that would demotivate the teacher.

“Let us not forget the fact that we all depend on our salaries for our upkeep and every parent here knows that the month of September is a challenging one for us since our children, right from the basic to the tertiary level, would have to go to school,” he said.

Incremental credit

Mr Buadi also expressed concern over what he described as the reluctance of  the government to pay teachers their incremental credits for 2011 and 2012, adding that although GNAT had submitted estimates covering teachers who qualified for such payments, no action had been taken.

“The issue of the operation of the Tier Two Pension rages due to the loud silence of government on when the contributions of members of the four registered schemes in the public service will be transferred from the temporary pension fund account at the Bank of Ghana to the custodian bank accounts of these schemes,” he said.

Teaching tools

The acting President of GNAT called on the government to provide teachers with the requisite tools to enhance their work, adding that “GNAT is aware of the Ministry of Education’s pursuit of policies aimed at ensuring that quality teaching and learning become a reality in our schools. While this is commendable, care must be taken to ensure that the teacher is supplied with the much needed tools to work with”.

GNAT Week

The GNAT Week is celebrated every year with the objective of sensitising GNAT members to the activities of the association. In addition, a number of activities are lined-up in the various districts to herald the celebration of World Teachers Day, scheduled for October 5.

As part of the celebrations, GNAT will provide school uniforms, school bags, canvas boots, textbooks and stationery to pupils in remote and less-endowed areas to motivate them to go to school.

This year, 50 pupils of Essuadei Anglican Primary School in the Upper Denkyira West and Saman-Abotar-Park MA Primary School in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem Municipality in the Central Region will benefit from the items.

This year’s World Teachers Day, with the theme: “Unite for Quality Education”, will be observed at the Jubilee Park in Cape Coast.

Connect With Us : 0242202447 | 0551484843 | 0266361755 | 059 199 7513 |