GNAT proposes national development agenda
There should be a national development agenda to guide the development of the education sector in a bid to enhance the standards of education and develop the requisite human resource for national development, the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has proposed.
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That, the association said, was necessary so that education could be seen as a priority.
Interacting with some journalists in Accra, the General Secretary of GNAT, Mr David Ofori Acheampong, said, “If possible, let us entrench it in our Constitution so that if party ‘A’ or party ‘B’ comes to power, it is the same policy. As it is now, education has become a political football.”
He said as it stood now, it was a worrying trend that required a concerted effort to deal with so that any government and president that came to power would not decide to do anything and get away with it because all power was vested in him.
Absenteeism
Addressing the issue of teacher absenteeism in schools, he blamed the Ghana Education Service (GES) for the phenomenom in the country.
“When it comes to teacher absenteeism, I think the problem is with the employer itself. If supervision was not important, that word would never have existed.
“If you put people at some places to do some job for you and you don’t care whether they go to work or they are working, that one, if there are any flaws, you must be wholly blameable by leaving the person you have employed,” the General Secretary said.
Lack of resources
He dared the district and regional education directors to dismiss anyone that was not working if they had any proof, adding, “You are paying the person to render a service and if that individual is not rendering the service, why do you keep him in service?”
Answering questions from journalists, Mr Acheampong insisted that the GES had limited resources to ensure effective supervision, citing for instance that, at almost all the district offices of the GES, subventions that they were supposed to receive to carry out their duties were not forthcoming.
“Our employer is limited by resources and so they cannot go round to do what they are supposed to do and they are not bold enough to say it,” he alleged.
Plight of rural teachers
He said instead of the district education officers admitting that they lacked funds to carry out supervision, “They are rather complaining of teachers not going to school.”
Mr Acheampong wondered how the GES should engage a worker and in some cases, for two years, that person would not be paid, querying how the GES expected such a person to be in school daily.
Validation exercise
On the validation exercise that began earlier this year, Mr Acheampong explained that the December deadline was not possible, stressing that as it stood, the exercise was a continuous one.
He said the exercise was not over and stressed that the association’s position was that the exercise would not come to an end until the last document was validated.
The Head of Compensation Department of GNAT, Mr Ahenakwa Quarshie, explained that, “The policy itself is still in place and until the policy is withdrawn, this three months salary exercise will continue.”
He said the policy would have to be withdrawn, “Then we know that we are getting headway to the end of the room.” According to Mr Quarshie, once the policy was still in place, the end of the tunnel was bleak.