Government’s neglect of private school teachers during coronavirus crises terrible – GNAPS

The Ghana Association of Private Schools (GNAPS) has described the government’s decision to deny payment of salaries to teachers in the private schools during the COVID-19 crises as very worrying and terrible.

The association also said the action by the government to reject their appeal to pay their workers in such an awful period will go a long way to render most teachers hopeless and also collapse a lot of schools in the country.

“How come leadership of the country neglected private school teachers in times of crises? If a crisis of this nature befalls us, and there is any support, it must come for everyone. Frankly speaking the government’s decision to neglect private school teachers when we made an appeal on the government to pay our teachers was worrying, very bad and not going to help the sector”. Vice President of the Ghana Association of Private Schools (GNAPS) Mr. John Afrane said this in an interview with Kumasi-based Akoma FM monitored by MyNewsGH.com.

“In similar occurrence in future, we need to address all together”, he added.

According to Private schools associations in the country, the sector alone employs more than 300,000 employees.

Mr. John Afrane insisted that “we have to make sure government do not use money generated from our gold timber and other natural resources to pay salaries of government teachers alone leaving those of us in the private schools”.

Since the pandemic coronavirus struck the country in the year 2020, schools have been closed down for ten months.

Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo in his 21 address to the nation on measures taken to curb the spread of the virus said, “So, from 15th January, our children in kindergarten, primary and Junior High, in both private and public schools, will be back in school. All SHS 1 students will start classes from 10th March, with all students embarking on a single-track academic calendar”.

He continued that, their seniors in SHS 2 and SHS 3 will, however, return to school from 18th January. I must stress that SHS 3 students in all schools, like SHS 1 students, will no longer run the double-track system.

But most school owners have said they were unable to pay their workers throughout these hard times.

However, in an appeal made to the government, these private schools asked for their teachers to be given some relief but their request was not met by the government.

Prior to that, Vice President of GNAPS Mr. John Afrane speaking with Kofi Asante of Akoma Fm noted that it is not right for the government to use state resources to pay salaries of its teachers alone and leave those in the private sector especially in difficult times like COVID-19.