Teachers benefit from teacher's fund

Tepa (Ash), March 1, GNA-Sixty teachers in the Ahafo-Ano North district of Ashanti have so far received about 200 million cedis as personal loans since the inception of the teacher's fund in 1999.

Mr Joseph Asomaning Darfour, Headmaster of Mabang Secondary/Technical School and outgoing district chairman of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), who disclosed this, said some teachers in the district also benefited from household consumer durable and electronic equipment worth five million cedis on credit. He was speaking at the quadrennial delegates conference of the district GNAT at Tepa on Friday to review its activities for the past four years and to elect new district executive for the next four years.


Mr Darfour said the outgoing executive had initiated a move to acquire a plot for the construction of a permanent district secretariat and advised the in-coming executive to pursue the plan and start the construction of the secretariat. He advised teachers who show apathy in the activities of the association to change their attitude and take active part in the deliberations of GNAT in their own interest and that of the association.

In a 10-point resolution, the teachers called on the regional and district branches of the association to produce land for the construction of a teachers' village. They also called on the government to clearly spell out the mode of payment of the special allowance scheme for teachers in the difficult areas and also provide sustainable in-service training for teachers, especially those in the lower primary to achieve quality education. They said in view of the volume of work done by basic school heads, the Ghana Education Service (GES) should detach all heads in basic schools and review their responsibility allowance paid to them. The teachers also called for a sustainable criteria and transparency should be adopted for the selection of the best teacher award winners.


Mr Andrew Fokuo, assistant Headmaster of Tepa Secondary School was elected the chairman with Mr Osei-Wusu Bonsu as the vice-chairman, Miss Jessica Asare became the treasurer with Lydia Nkrumah, trustee while 11 others were elected to serve on the executive body. M