Teachers’ group threaten demo - As they protest ‘forced’ insurance policy
Members of a pressure group within the Ghana Education Service (GES) have threatened to embark on a nationwide demonstration on July 20 if the GES goes ahead to deduct an insurance premium from the July 2019 salaries of members.
Members of the pressure group, Forum for Justice, have consequently appealed to the government through the Minister of Education, the GES Council, the Board of State Insurance Company (SIC), the clergy and civil societies organisations to impress on GES to suspend the policy since its imposition could lead to tension in the education sector.
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At a news conference in Kumasi yesterday, the national President of the group, Mr Prosper Takyi, described the introduction of the policy as an imposition and an illegality, saying their consent was not sought by the GES before the introduction of the policy.
Mr Takyi said the official launch of the policy by the leadership of the GES and the Ministry of Education meant that they were not ready to listen to the agitations from the teachers and other workers who were “against the imposition” of the policy on them.
According to the group, they were not against the GES/SIC insurance policy but the manner it was being imposed on the teachers and other workers was their challenge.
The membership of the group is made up of both teaching and non-teaching staff of the GES across the country.
By choice
The group consequently called on the GES and SIC to give the teachers and other workers the opportunity to decide whether to take the policy or not.
It wondered why the GES had not refunded the money it deducted through the Controller and Accountant General’s Department in June 2018 through the same process but rather wanted the teachers to fill forms for the refund of their money.
The group was of the opinion that “the GES has no legal mandate to effect any deduction on the workers’ salary without permission from the worker or explicit permission by a statute”.
Background
In February 2018, the GES announced plans to insure its staff, which at the time seemed to receive a wide endorsement from staff and other stakeholders in the education sector.
Later events, however, suggested that the teachers and the other educational workers had perceived that the financial obligation of the initiative was going to be borne by the employer.
But the protests started when the news got to the teachers and other workers under the GES that they were going to pay for the premium.
In June 2018, GH¢10 was deducted from each of the GES staff towards the insurance policy.
This triggered a nationwide protest against the leadership of the various teacher unions and education workers unions.
The GES came out to apologise and subsequently engaged the leadership of the unions which led to a suspension of the deduction.
But the official launch of the policy has brought up the subject again.