Return to the classroom for the sake of BECE candidates – Akufo-Addo to striking teachers

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has appealed to striking teachers to return to the classroom, while negotiations continue.

The president wants the teachers to consider the fact that some of the students are preparing towards their final exams, Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE).

He made this passionate call while addressing Muslims gathered to mark this year’s Eid-ul-Adha celebration today, Saturday, June 9, 2022.

“I want to add my voice to the appeal by the outstanding Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Hon. Ignatius Baffour Awuah, Member of Parliament for Sunyani West, for the teachers to return to the classrooms, pending the outcome of negotiations, so that the education of our children, some of whom are preparing to sit their final exams, is not affected,” he appealed.

President Akufo-Addo assured that his government was working assiduously to resolve the current challenges the country finds itself.

“We are in a difficult place. The world is in a difficult place. Leaders around the world, like we are doing here in Ghana, are working assiduously to resolve the fundamental challenges that have plunged the world into the current economic condition in which it finds itself,” he added.

It will be recalled that on Monday, July 4, the leadership of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), the Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT), and the Teachers & Educational Workers’ Union (TEWU) asked their members to withdraw their services.

This decision was announced by the General Secretary of GNAT, Thomas Musah Tanko.

The unions earlier gave the government a June 30 ultimatum, to grant the 20% COLA or risk the wrath of over 240,000 teachers nationwide.

The striking teachers lamented that the high inflation and incessant skyrocketing prices of fuel, goods and services, “have eroded the already woefully so-called salary increases granted” to them.

“We wish to unambiguously express our grave concern of the excruciating pain of poverty that has been bestowed on the Ghanaian teacher and Education Workers.

“The Members of the Unions in education can no longer bear the hardship. Even more so, we reject the inequalities of salaries in the public service in the country,” the group said at a presser announcing their next line of action.

They made reference to Article 36 of the 1992 constitution of Ghana, which states:

“The state shall, in particular, take all necessary steps to ensure that the national economy is managed in such a manner as to maximise welfare, freedom, and happiness of every person in Ghana and to provide adequate means of livelihood and suitable employment and public assistance to the needy.

“The state shall, in particular, take all the necessary steps to establish a sound and healthy economy whose underlying principles shall include the guarantee of a fair and realistic remuneration for production and productivity in order to encourage continued production and higher productivity, the recognition that the most secure democracy is the one that assures the basic necessities of life for its people as a fundamental duty.”

Since the announcement, the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, the Ghana Education Service, and other relevant stakeholders have engaged the leadership of the unions in a crunch meeting to reach an amicable solution.

The earlier meeting ended inconclusively, but the government is expected to meet the striking teachers again on Tuesday, 12 July 2022.