The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) insists that all of the conditions of service pertaining to teachers assigned in rural areas of the nation must be fully implemented by the government as soon as possible.
On the occasion of World Teachers Day, Charles Ateem, the Bolgatanga Municipal Chairman of GNAT, said on the Day Break Upper East Show that it is unacceptable that teachers are often denied what is owed them.
“The transformation [we are talking about], there are so many things we are looking out for. [We want the] full implementation of the deprived teacher conditions that we signed in our condition of service we signed in 2020. [It stated] that teachers who agreed to accept postings to deprived areas should be given at least 20 percent of their basic salary. They should be given 10 percent for accommodation. [The conditions] must be fully adhered to.”
“If they [government] are able to give us all these things, and also give us the needed training, [it would be good]. We have the professional allowance that has not been paid. This is supposed to give us an opportunity to enable us to carry out what we call professional training.”
Earlier, Mr. Ateem explained that while the teachers had received the laptops they partly paid for, the government is yet to assist the teachers to fully realise the government’s dream of digitalization.
“It is to be able to aid us but you have not taken us through how to use them. You have not been able to. The impact that you want the teachers to use the laptops for, has not been met yet you expect the teacher to do magic.”
On World Teachers’ Day, the services of teachers and their contributions to education are acknowledged and their role and importance for the development of students and society are appreciated.
Teachers’ Day is an occasion that pays a tribute to the teachers and tends to resolve some of the issues regarding their profession and hence tries to attract the brightest young minds towards this profession.
Various organisations like UNESCO, Education International (EI), UNICEF, UNDP, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), etc. organise campaigns and conferences to achieve this goal. UNESCO allocates a Theme for this Day every year and campaigns focus on this theme.
The Theme of World Teachers’ Day 2022 is “The transformation of education begins with teachers”. The United Nations (UNESCO) presented this theme for teachers’ day in respect of their determined and diligent efforts in the crucial stages of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
