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Address conditions of service for teachers in 2023 Budget Statement – Educationist

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Over the past few months, there has been some labour unrest in the country’s education sector. The whole labour force in the education industry at one point went on strike. In response to the nomination of a non-professional teacher as the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, pre-tertiary teacher unions went on strike.

For the unions at the tertiary level, UTAG, TUTAG, CETAG have proceeded on strike over their conditions of service. 

With the aforementioned labour concerns in mind, the government is being urged to consider using the 2023 Budget Statement and Financial Policy to permanently resolve the challenges with conditions of services. 

“The teachers’ demands are very straightforward. There’s no confusion about that. They are only saying that economic conditions have worsened in the country. This is making it difficult for them to live on the salaries that they are getting now and therefore, the government should be able to do something about it. That is a legitimate demand because, if you take home pay, as they say, is not able to take you home, then what are you working for?”

Nii Armah Addy, a Management and Education Policy Expert said this when he spoke on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show today, November 22, 2022. 

Mr. Addy stressed that, “these concerns must be addressed and not brushed aside, particularly in a year when our education has suffered a lot of setbacks right from the basic level to the tertiary level, you do not want that to continue. COVID dealt a lot with us by bringing out educational calendar back. Anything that would further bring delays, it is going to worry us. Government would have to address that.”

It would be recalled that the leadership of the Technical University Teachers Association of Ghana (TUTAG) said its strike action will continue to linger on until its employer commits to resolving the challenges impeding its work. 

According to the Association, the employer’s lackadaisical attitude in resolving the challenges raised is the reason for the strike. 

The issues tagged as codified conditions of service have been on the government’s table since 2016 until the 18th of November 2022 when members decided to go on indefinite strike.  

Speaking on A1 Radio, the Association’s President, Professor Ameyaw Collins indicated that their conditions of service go beyond money.

Meanwhile, the President of University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) at the C.K Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences Dr. Jonas Bugase says until the government meets their demands, or at least gives a promise of same, the the association’s strike would continue.

Four labour unions in the public universities; University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), Ghana Association of University Administrators (GAUA), Teachers and Educational Workers Union of Ghana (TEWU) and the Senior Staff Association of Universities of Ghana (SSA-UoG)  declared a strike October 13, 2022 over the failure of  government to settle their fuel and non-payroll allowances.

Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana

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