Students demonstrate in solidarity with their teachers

Wa, Oct. 20, GNA - Some students and pupils of second cycle and basic schools in the Wa Municipality on Friday went on a demonstration along some principal streets of Wa to express their solidarity with their teachers who are currently on an indefinite strike to back their demands for better conditions of service.

Wielding placards most of which read, "we want our teachers back and "we students are suffering", they later presented a petition meant for the Head of State, which was received by Mr George Hikah Benson, Deputy Upper West Regional Minister.

Zakaria Yahaya, a student of the N.J. Ahmadiyya Teacher Training College who read the petition called on the Government and the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) to resolve the impasse so that normalcy could return to the education front for academic work to proceed smoothly.

He said the strike was retarding their progress and would adversely affect final year students of Senior Secondary Schools who would be writing the West Africa School Certificate Examinations with students from other countries in the sub-region next year. Mr. Benson said the government as not sleeping over the issues and was working round the clock to get the teachers back to their classrooms to continue their work.

He assured the students that a solution would soon be found to the problem and urged them to go back to the classrooms and carry on with their curricular activities.

Meanwhile, the Upper West Regional House of chiefs has appealed to the striking NAGRAT and GNAT members in the region to resume work while negotiations with the government for improved salaries and better conditions of service continued.

In a statement signed by Naa Sohamininye Danaa Gore, Acting President of the house, the chiefs said in making the appeal, they had taken cognisance that teachers needed to be adequately motivated to give their best output in training the country's future leaders. They noted that the region was already deprived and the boycott of classes by the teachers could only worsen an already bad situation. The chiefs said as fathers of the region, they hoped NAGRAT and