Ghanaian teachers, despite giving their all to impart knowledge unto future generations, are living impoverished lives due to the less attention given to their conditions of service, King Ali Awudu, President of the Coalition of Concerned Teachers, Ghana, (CCT-GH), has asserted.
According to him, “teachers will put in their all but unfortunately the energy we put in and the knowledge we are imparting to the future generations is not being remunerated today.
At the end of it, the teacher gives his all and live as a pauper.”
For this, Mr. Ali Awudu says the Ghanaian teacher is fulfilled with the profession, having had to impart knowledge and seeing their students doing well in life. However, they are not happy due to the unfavourable conditions they have to endure in rendering their service.
Speaking on Hot Issues on TV3 Sunday, April 07, 2024, the man with 19 years teaching experience stated that teachers’ remuneration is so poor that despite them having a job, it is still difficult to provide bread and butter with their salaries.
“The other aspect where we are remunerated and paid so that we can put bread and butter on the table is the biggest problem and that’s what we’ve been fighting for all this while,” he said.
“Teachers all over this country are underpaid. Currently in Ghana Education Service, the minimum requirement to enter into the teaching service is first degree so we are talking about graduates all out. As we speak, GES remain the largest institution in this country with the highest number of professionals or graduates,” Mr. Awudu added.
He also highlighted on other poor conditions including the teaching environment which is hampering the smooth delivery of their service.
“There are some areas in this country, you go to the school setting and environment and you’re astonished as a Ghanaian if these settings should even qualify to be a classroom in the first place. Then you’ll see a teacher there teaching without any extra remuneration,” he told host, Keminni Amanor.
OSP suspends salaries of 800 teachers in Northern Region, GNAT disagrees
Three pre-tertiary teacher unions who recently went on strike over their conditions of service called off their action.
The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana (CCT-GH) declared an industrial strike over what they described as poor conditions of service.
They attributed the move to the failure of the Ministry of Education and its implementing agency, the Ghana Education Service (GES) to put in place better conditions of service.
Issues highlighted by the teachers were the absence of an appropriate Scheme of Service and a Collective Agreement, rampant changes in school calendar without recourse to the teachers, inefficient distribution of laptops and blockage of some teachers’ salaries by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).
Following the announcement, both the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) and the National Labour Commission (NLC) critiqued the move and urged the teachers to go back to the negotiating table.
In a statement issued Tuesday, April 02, 2024, King Ali Awudu, President of the Coalition of Concerned Teachers, Ghana, intimated the importance for their employers to swiftly address their concerns of the unions.
“As law abiding citizens and having respect for the court, we hereby declare the strike that was called on 20th March 2024 off. We ask all our members and teachers of pre-tertiary education in this country to resume work with immediate effect,” he said.
“We continue to ask the employer led by the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations to commence negotiations this afternoon, today April 2 2024. So we can expedite the negotiations and come to a conclusion to forestall any other happenings in the future,” he added.
