NAGRAT welcomes Professional Teacher Allowance policy

National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) has welcomed government’s policy of Professional Teacher Allowance (PTA).

The Minister of Education, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, on Tuesday, August 12 2020 announced the policy of the Professional Teacher Allowance saying that it would enable teachers to invest in improving and upgrading their skills and keeping abreast of modern trends to assist in improving learning outcomes.

Speaking on the morning show, Campus Exclusive, President of NAGRAT, Mr. Angel Carbonu indicated that the policy was a positive step by the government.

He added that it was however inadequate in bringing the needed improvement to the educational sector.

“It’s a welcome motivation and we accept it and see how it goes. But I will say that we won’t say it is adequate or it is enough. But it used not to be there so this is a positive initiative.”

He further urged teachers to always be abreast with new findings in their field of study in order to impact knowledge to the students with or without motivation from the government.

“Well the nature of teaching is such that you always want to gather information whether there is motivation or no motivation. And now have the internet, journals and other sources of information so teachers must update and exonerate themselves.”

Mr. Carbonu highlighted that a decision had been taken to ensure that allowances are paid to the teachers through the controllers and accountant generals department to prevent the occurrence of a situation where some individuals would not receive their monies.

“That is why in the negotiation we have stated that the payment should be through the controller and accountant generals department. That money is paid only once a year so we are looking for a month in a year when that money will be added to the payment by the payment and controllers account. By so doing the money will not be bottled.

According to Mr. Carbonu, the provision of adequate and relevant infrastructure as well as a conducive teaching and learning environment by government would go a long way to improve the quality of teachers in the country.

“By the provision of the adequate and relevant infrastructure by the state, creating the conducive environment for teaching and learning, provision of adequate resource that will be available to both the teacher and the student to use to improve and of course motivating the teacher to love the job so that the lives of teacher unions will be enhanced will improve the quality of teachers in the country.”. He said.

Government announces introduction of Professional Teacher Allowance

The Minister of Education, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh while speaking on the floor of parliament last Tuesday announced the introduction of the Professional Teacher Allowance (PTA) of GH¢1,200 per year for professional teachers and GH¢600 per year for non-professional teachers to deepen their commitment and spur professional growth.

The Minister of Education, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, announced the incentive saying the move would enable teachers to invest in improving and upgrading their skills and keeping abreast of modern trends to assist in improving learning outcomes.

The minister said with teachers at the center of the education system, the government was motivated to initiate several reforms in the education space. Such initiatives focused on positioning teachers to acquire the right set of skills to deliver quality learning outcomes for pupils and students.