The All Teachers Alliance Ghana (ATAG) has called on Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Ministry of Education (MoE) to address the predicaments of the newly trained teachers across the country following their postings earlier this year.
In a press release, dated 7th June 2022 and signed by Albert Dadson Amoah, General Secretary of ATAG, the teacher union said the country’s economic situation is not good for every public sector worker hence “we shouldn’t leave these new professionals in their current situation.”
The release further indicated that, the Government is not being fair with the newly trained teachers who have been posted to various places of their service since February 2022.
ATAG further alleged that, after six months of being at post, the newly trained teachers have not received their identification numbers, let alone to talk of undergoing biometric registration.
The teacher union is therefore appealing to the GES and MoE to as a matter of urgency, attend to the predicaments of these newly trained teachers who had been left hopeless and suffering in their various stations.
“We want to state that the government of Ghana is not being fair with the newly trained teachers who had been posted to various places of their service since February 2022. Six months down the line, these newly trained teachers are yet to receive their identification numbers and let alone go to the ministry of finance to take their biometrics for onward payment of salary. In times when public sector workers are crying for Cost of Living Allowance (COLA), the government has largely remained deaf ear to all appeals.”
“Sadly, we have left these young professionals to struggle in the face of general hardships prevailing in the country. Some of them can hardly meet their daily upkeep whilst others are resorting to excessive borrowing to survive. This is affecting them both psychologically and economically and affecting their quality of state of mind. Many of these young professionals are starving at their various stations and the level of economic and psychological torture is unbearable for them. It is sad teacher unions had remained silent knowing very well that it is not easy for these young ones. Since 2017, newly trained teachers had been paid three months after postings, so what is going on this time around?”
“The government’s call for quality education will virtually become a mirage because it lacks the necessary urgency toward pressing issues that confront the sector. Educational policies and infrastructure development cannot alone give us the necessary positive impact if we treat teachers with this level of contempt. All the good efforts of the government towards achieving world-class educational quality and meeting the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 will crumble when teachers are treated as an afterthought in policy making and implementation.”
“We appeal to GES and the Ministry of Education, with all due respect, to as a matter of urgency, attend to the predicaments of these newly trained teachers who had been left hopeless and suffering in their various stations. Government should not wait to hear some of them lose their lives out of frustrations or sinking into perpetual desperation before moving to their rescue. The country’s economic situation is not good for every public sector worker and if we should leave these new professionals in their current situation, we deny them their rights and treat them unfairly for no fault of theirs. The government had no justification whatsoever to say he has no money to pay these newly posted trained teachers on time rather than leaving them suffering against their will. We maintain that it is not fair.”
The All Teachers Alliance Ghana indicated that, in our quest to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, we will have to treat teachers fairly and just.