Resolve labour disputes involving teachers amicably – GNECC tells govt

In addition, it said the NLC should go beyond paying lip-service to the provisions in the Labour Act and fully utilise the power vested in them by the Act towards a lasting solution to this dispute.

Commenting on the current strike by teachers, the statement urged the government to, as a matter of urgency, “Demonstrate good faith toward resolving this dispute by living up to any previously agreed terms between them and the teacher unions and parties towards resolving this dispute”.

“We also urge the teacher unions and their leadership to take steps to promote and support any processes and measures which will ensure teacher accountability and professional service delivery that justifies the huge investment in the education sector, bulk of which goes to personnel emoluments,” it said.

 The GNECC further urged all stakeholders, especially the government, GNAT, NAGRAT and the NLC, to demonstrate commitment and goodwill in the interest of the poor children of Ghana.

“GNECC wishes to express its concern over the strike action declared by the GNAT and the NAGRAT as well as the manner in which this dispute has been handled.

“As a country, whose Constitution guarantees the right to education, both government and all stakeholders in the sector, have a responsibility to ensure that no Ghanaian child’s effort to access and participate in education in all this forms is hindered and that the best interest of the child is paramount in all issues related to education,” it said.

The coalition, it said, was greatly distressed that the strike had been called at a time when final year students in senior high schools across the country had commenced their final examination.

“With teachers serving as invigilators during the exams, the present situation holds the potential of disrupting the smooth conduct of this all important exams and likely to serve as a recipe for psychological torture for the candidates, especially as they are currently unsettled as to when this impasse will be resolved.

“The strike action, if not resolved quickly, will disrupt the academic calendar and the actual contact hours for teaching and learning in both secondary and tertiary schools”. GNECC, the statement said, was also very saddened by an emerging culture in the sector characterised by an annual recurrence of  strikes by teachers, most of which were traceable to un-resolved labour demands of teachers and government’s failure to comprehensively and conclusively address them.

“We wish to call on government and its appropriate agencies, to be more proactive in ensuring that this trend becomes an issue of the past.

“Overall, the coalition is fully convinced by these and other factors that the outcome of this strike and other industrial actions do not serve the best interests of our cherished pupils/students, who have been copiously referred to as ‘our future leaders’. It neither serves the interest of a nation whose standard of education especially at the pre-tertiary level has fallen in recent years with no clear signals of recovery in sight”.

The coalition, as a major stakeholder in the sector, therefore, called for a quick and prompt response by all parties to end this dispute, and urged all parties to demonstrate commitment to the process for resolving the impasse.