Involve teachers in salary negotiations
The Chairman of the West Akim Municipal branch of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Mr Samuel Asante Anaafi, has called for teachers to be included in any processes for negotiation of salaries and conditions of service.
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He said their inclusion in the processes alone was enough motivation to induce them to work harder.
He urged the leadership of GNAT to use all means available to it to negotiate with employers for teachers to be given allowances and other conditions of service in order to make them happy.
“Even though we are working hard in spite of our meagre salaries, we can do better if our employers make us happy and it behoves the leadership of GNAT to fight for this just cause on our behalf,” he said.
The Municipal GNAT Chairman made the remarks in his address at a delegates conference of the association at Asamankese in the West Akim Municipality in the Eastern Region.
He said further that teachers across the country were also not happy with the way the Teachers Fund and Credit Mall Limited were being run.
Mr Anaafi said purchases that teachers made on credit from the Credit Mall, as well as loans they took from the Teachers Fund, were oftentimes debited in excess of the amounts involved and that it took long periods for the errors to be corrected and that made life difficult for the affected teachers.
Delays in promotion
He also mentioned certain factors including delays in promotion which he said were demotivating.
“As I speak to you now, teachers who qualified for promotion in 2015 into various ranks in the Ghana Education Service and were interviewed in 2016 have still not received approval,” he said.
The West Akim Municipal Secretary of GNAT, Mr Isaac Koranteng Aboagye, urged the GES to improve the working environment of teachers in the country.
The following were elected into executive positions: Mr Tengey Yaw Abonigar, Chairman; Ms Priscilla Karikari, Vice Chairman; Ms Grace Mensah, Treasurer, and Mr Jonathan Ntow, Trustee.
The rest are Ms Salome Duah as GNAT-LAS Coordinator; Mr Edward Agyei, Youth Coordinator; Ms Vida Owusu, Basic School Coordinator; Mr Edward Konadu, a representative of the Education office and Mr Owusu Clarke, senior high school representative.
A former Eastern Regional GNAT Secretary, Mr John Gyimah Amamoo, was the guest speaker for the occasion. He expressed concern over the serious gaps conflict and emergency situations were creating in the field of education and called for development systems that were resilient and responsive to situations of emergency, conflict and post-conflict circumstances.