Hundreds of teachers in the Volta Region on Friday took to the streets of Ho to draw stakeholder’s attention to their plight.
Teachers from three unions; the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana (CCT-GH), came together to make public their grievances, and traffic flow in the Ho Municipality had to be diverted.
Close to 100 Police officers were deployed to keep the protesters, who wore red mourning clothes and carried placards, in line.
Some Placards cited by the Ghana News Agency read, “Teachers are not beggars,” “we also deserve our allowances as teachers,” “Treat teachers with decency,” and “our take home can’t take us home.”
The protest march took off from the Ho Central Market and ended at the Volta Regional Coordinating Council, where a petition was presented to the Government through the Regional Minister.
Mr Solomon Takyi, Regional Chairman of the CCT-GH, who delivered the petition, detailed a long running “battle” for better conditions of service.
“Since the negotiation of our Collective Agreement in 2009 and after the 2020 Collective Agreement, the Unions have known no peace owing to the Government’s continued failure to implement the allowances agreed on as well as fulfilled promises given.
“Honourable, the allowances we have been battling with over the past 15 years and counting are 17. However, due to several considerations, we have reduced them to four. These are the Deprived Area Allowance, the Extra Assessment Allowance, the Book/Data/Online Allowance, and the upward adjustment of the CPD allowance.
“Despite this gesture of good faith from the Unions, the government is still adamant and has demonstrated bad faith,” the Regional Chairman stated, detailing the effect on the livelihoods of members of the teachers’ profession.
“This has often culminated in high despondency and disaffection for leadership. We have had to hang on the thin line, with our members complaining bitterly. These complaints have become worse, especially as our members are reeling under the utter hardship imposed on us by all the current economic conditions in the country.
“We wish to emphasise that the last 24 months have been the most tortuous for the Ghanaian teacher, with no ray of hope of relief initiated by the Employer,” Mr. Takyi lamented, and said the Ghana Education Service had two weeks to provide relief for teachers under an ultimatum.
“Pursuant to the above, we call on the Employer to honour its promises and commitment to our teachers by addressing our concerns over the allowances enumerated above.
“We wish to stress that we have had enough of the nonchalance, and aloofness of the Employer, and would thus not countenance this situation any longer. Consequently, we are giving the Employer up to May 13, 2024, to address our concerns.
“We wish to state in strongest terms that, should the Employer fail to address our demands on or before May 13, 2024, then we shall call on leadership to act immediately.”
Mr. Augustus Awiti, Volta Regional Coordinator, received the petition on behalf of the Regional Minister, and said it would be forwarded to relevant authorities.
Source: GNA
