Prof Naana Opoku Agyeman – Education Minister
Striking basic and secondary schools teachers have agreed to suspend their week-long industrial action following a desperate plea made to them by President John Dramani Mahama.
“He pleaded with us,” B.K Osei, the Head of Salaries, Terms and Conditions of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), toldDAILY GUIDE.
Yesterday, President Mahama, clearly distraught by the strike, summoned the leadership of the teachers’ unions to a face-to-face encounter in the Flagstaff House.
The encounter was aimed at using his influence to persuade the aggrieved teacher unions to end the impasse over their unpaid allowances and entitlements.
Emerging from the rare encounter with President Mahama, President of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) Samuel Doe Alobia told media men sniffing around the Flagstaff House that the teacher bodies agreed to suspend the strike based on the commitments made by President Mahama to task the requisite institutions to settle the outstanding demands.
According to the teachers, if President Mahama reneged on his assurance, they would not hesitate to down their tools in another round of nationwide industrial action.
“We are taking him for his word. If our council takes the appeal and we postpone, then later we realize that the promise is not fulfilled, then we’ll later advise ourselves,” Mr. Alobia stated.
Mahama Begs
Minutes before entering into the crunch meeting with representatives of the striking teachers, President Mahama made a brief stop to talk to the media about the meeting.
“I have continued to appeal to the teachers to go back to the classroom…persons put in positions with certain responsibilities to carry out certain duties must carry them out as efficiently as possible. It does not only have to do with industrial action,” stated President Mahama.
The President admitted that some of the demands being made by the teachers should not have taken such a long time before being addressed. “For so long to get to this point…and all of us must work to ensure that the work for which you were placed and paid for, you do it so that you don’t find ourselves in this kind of situation,” he said, chiding the institutions tasked to handle teacher entitlements.
Not Cowed
Mr. Osei said the association leaders were not cowed by the presence of the President as they insisted on their entitlements.
DAILY GUIDE gathered that realizing the determination of the teachers to stick to their guns, the President was forced to assure them that he would personally ensure that all the institutions tasked to sort out the teachers did their job. “He [President Mahama] said he will make sure that the institutions tasked to the work will do so. He never promised us silver or gold,” B.K Osei told DAILY GUIDE.
Leadership of the aggrieved teachers who stormed the Flagstaff House included representatives from the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT) and the Teachers and Educational Workers’ Union (TEWU).
The meeting, which lasted for almost an hour, was held behind closed doors, but DAILY GUIDE gathered that even though they agreed to suspend the strike, the leaders of the association told the President their agreement to suspend the strike was only tentative because they would have to seek the consent of their various memberships’ council.
As at press time yesterday, the leaders and representatives of the councils were locked in a heated debate as to whether or not they would suspend the nationwide strike action. It is currently unclear what they have decided on.
“I thought everything was over,” sated Stephen Adu, Deputy Director at the Ministry of Education, when contacted by DAILY GUIDE.According to him, save for the Retention Premium being agitated for by the teachers, all other demands had been collectively agreed by requisite institutions to sort out.
The striking teachers and non-teaching staff of basic and secondary schools had mounted a week-long nationwide industrial action to protest a perpetual freeze on annual increment in salaries since 2010, non-payment of vehicle allowances from 2012, and erratic handling of issues of promotions among teachers nationwide.
The teachers’ contention was contained in an eight-point list of demands presented to the government last week.
The nationwide strike has brought activities in most public schools to a complete halt. The industrial action coincided with the ongoing annual West African Certificate Examination (WASSSCE).
This meant the student started the examinations without professional invigilators as school heads begged cooks and labourers to serve as makeshift invigilators.
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