Donkokrom (E/R), Oct. 3, GNA - Basic school teachers in the Afram Plains district have withdrawn their services for the past two weeks, citing the government's failure to implement a new salary structure that includes their travelling and transport allowances and transfer grants. While some of the teachers never showed up at all, others reported to school but sat down without teaching.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency at Donkorkrom, the District Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers, Mr Asiamah Kwasi Bediako, said the teachers took the decision to go on strike at a meeting held at Koforidua in August this year.
At that meeting, it was agreed that should the government fail to implement the new salary structure by the end of August, they should withdraw their services, he said, adding that this was communicated to the teachers in the district through their zonal representatives. Mr Bediako said the teachers had not been happy about how some issues relating to their welfare were treated by the district authorities.
For example, he said, the District Assembly and the District Education Secretariat had failed to organize the Best Teacher Awards in the district for the past four years.
He said due to a growing discontent among teachers in the district, the size of the teaching staff had reduced to 500, down from 900, adding that 400 out of the current number were pupil teachers. He bemoaned the situation saying it was having adverse effects on teaching and learning in basic schools in the district.
