Teachers call off their industrial strike
The strike declared by the three (3) Teacher Unions NAGRAT, GNAT, and CCT has been called off after an order from the court.
The court’s order came after National Labour Commission (NLC) called them to order at which NLC said, the Teacher Unions should heed their order of going back to their various classroom.
NLC’s reason for calling the strike is that the demands of the Teacher Unions are on the table for discussion with the government hence, heeding a directive will be the best way forward.
In the news, Mr. Angel Carbonou disclosed to journalists that Teachers are respectful therefore, they will act according to the court’s order.
Further, he said by Monday, all Teachers should (will) resume work and wait patiently for the outcome of the promised discussion bthe y National Labour Commission (NLC).
“We are law-abiding citizens, we have decided to obey the orders of the court and have asked our members to call off the strike and to go back to the classrooms, and also ensure that the directive that the Labour Commission is giving that we engage the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relation and report to the Labour Commission on the 16th on the issues that led to the strike in the first place, we are determined to do that in our engagement with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Education,” NAGRAT President stressed.
BACKGROUND
The Teacher Unions in Ghana namely GNAT, NAGRAT, and CCT-Gh have declared a strike based on appointing a Banker as the new Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES).
At a press conference attended by the three (3) Teacher Unios: GNAT NAGRAT, and CCT-Gh they said
“We have been compelled under the current circumstances to publicly communicate to Ghanaians on our intention to go on strike having reached the November 4 deadline we gave the government.”
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“Consequently, we have decided to embark on strike from today, Friday, November 4, 2022. By this, we are informing the general public that we are withdrawing our services in all the pre-tertiary education institutions.”
In a release from the press conference on Friday, the 4th day of November 2022, it has it that appointment of a Banker instead of an Educationalist as Director General of Ghana Education Service (GES) is a manifestation of a lack of confidence in Teachers to manage their affairs and disregard to established Scheme of Service and progression within the Ghana Education Service.
Furthermore, the Teacher Unions stated that “both the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service, should apologize to teachers for accepting the very qualification they rejected when teachers presented them.”
It must be stated that the Director General position is the preserve of Educationists and has been occupied by Educationists since its creation in 1974 to date.
History of the Director-General office of Ghana Education Service (GES) has it that 17 Director Generals have been counted to have occupied the position of Director-General to serve at the GES. From the mentioned 17 number of the past Director-General of Ghana Education Service (GES) stated in the release, five (5) were known as Professors from the Academia. They were widely known to have worked and contributed immensely to the education sector of Ghana.
The remaining numbers were all higher officers of the GES. Even during the military regimes, the said Educationalists were the Director-General of Ghana Education Service.
The virtues of GES, police, es, and standards must be held in high esteem and be devoid of politics.
The above inferences formed the basis for terminating the appointment of the Banker as a Director General of Ghana Education Service (GES)
and the declaration of strike action for the pre-tertiary education institutions in the country.
Summary of the conference’s outcome indicates that the Teacher Unions did not only register their protest, they, deemed it uncalled for to appoint a Banker I to the position of a Director-General of GES at the expense of Educationists at a time when many teachers who did the same courses and related ones were rejected by GES because it is not related to education. The qualification of a Banker does not warrant the position he was appointed to manage and bring a better outcome to the chalk-and-talk fraternity.
