Education and Management Expert, Mr. Nii Armah Addy has supported the decision to procure laptops for teachers across the country. He said the recent COVID-19 Pandemic has exposed the need for various professions to centre the use of technology and digital media. Mr. Addy however expressed worry about the fallout and suits that had followed the decision by the government.
Speaking to Samuel Mbura on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show, Mr. Addy called for calm and further consultations on the part of government and the leadership of the various Teacher Unions to help their members understand the need for the laptops.
My Addy was however surprised that after two teacher unions had taken the Attorney General and the Ghana Education Service on for procurement breaches in acquiring the laptop, one of the two teacher unions had declared its intention to demonstrate. The Educationist explained that the move suggests that the union has no faith in the justice system of Ghana thus their intention to still demonstrate after suing relevant parties to the One-Teacher-One-Laptop Policy.
Background
A teacher union, known as All Teachers Alliance Ghana (ATAG) is set to embark on a demonstration on Wednesday, December 15, 2021.
According to the Union, the deduction is being done at a time when a legal battle seeking to terminate the implementation of the initiative is ongoing.
General Secretary of All Teachers Alliance Ghana, Albert Dadson Amoah, in an interview on Accra-based Citi News said “they [GES] should prepare for us. Teachers are minimizing themselves. We want to use this forum to call on GES once again to immediately refund the GH₵ 509 to teachers.”
“Besides, there are some GES workers who are not teachers, there are the cleaners, cooks, among others. Some earn as little as GH₵ 700 and the government has gone ahead to deduct GH₵ 509 from their salaries. How are these people expected to survive?”
Mr Amoah who believed that teachers have been persistently disrespected stressed that this time around, they will not look on, unconcerned but will protest until their grievances are addressed.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1 MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
