Ghana teachers will not end strike without proof of payments — MyJoyOnline

Teachers’ unions in Ghana’s Upper West Region said their members will not end the nationwide strike until the government provides verifiable evidence that their long-standing demands have been met. At a joint press conference in the city of Wa, representatives of the associations reaffirmed their support for the unions’ national leadership.

As MyJoyOnline reports, representatives of the Ghana National Association of Teachers, the National Association of Graduate Teachers, and the Pre-Tertiary Teachers Association of Ghana attended the event. They said that verbal assurances from the government and employer, as well as unfulfilled promises regarding payment deadlines, are no longer sufficient.

Three unresolved issues

Rensford Owusu-Adjey, regional secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers, cited three reasons for continuing the strike: negotiations on a collective agreement whose term has already expired have reached a deadlock; teachers were not moved to the appropriate salary scales after promotion and were not paid accumulated arrears; and an agreement on a 20% allowance for work in areas with unfavorable conditions has not been implemented.

More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.

According to Owusu-Adjey, a promotion that is not reflected in pay is incomplete. He said teachers are already performing duties associated with their promotions and demand confirmation of actual payments rather than new promises. The allowance for work in such areas was agreed back in 2016, the union representative noted.

Schools without teachers

Dominic Yaw Tunti, head of the regional branch of the National Association of Graduate Teachers, said that during monitoring, the union sees students in schools without teachers. He advised parents not to send their children to school because, in the absence of teachers, they remain unsupervised.

Tunti also said that the government had promised to make payments in September after the August 31 deadline, but, according to him, the funds never arrived. Suurwe Joan, gender coordinator of the regional NAGRAT branch, urged the authorities to urgently resolve the three key issues so that teachers can return to work.