General Secretary of GNAT addresses teachers at Asante-Akim South

Juaso (Ash), Feb 27, GNA - Mrs Irene Duncan Adanusah, General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has stated that the teaching profession is not a mere job where everybody could just walk in and out at anytime and therefore teachers should not do anything that will bring it into disrepute.

She urged teachers to read and understand the contents of the conditions of service for teachers so that, "you could keep abreast with it to enable you defend it at all times against all forms of abuses". Mrs. Adanusah, who was speaking to teachers drawn from the Asante-Akim South district at Juaso at the weekend during her first official working visit, entreated them to close their ranks to ensure peaceful co-existence so that they can rally behind GNAT in fighting for their course.

She urged teachers to make good use of the distance education programme to improve upon their academic and professional status and appealed to them to use proper channels to seek for the redress of their grievances, for, the new Labour Act 651 has been formalised hence the establishment of national, regional and district labour commissions. Mrs. Adanusah expressed regret that the SSNIT pension scheme is not good for teachers and that was why GNAT is planning a supplementary pension scheme for teachers.

Dr Lord Justice Gyamfi-Fenteng, the District Chief Executive, advised teachers to refrain from acts, which are detrimental to the teaching profession as well as their pupils and mentioned bad habits such as lateness, absenteeism and drunkenness to school, including flirting with schoolgirls.

He urged teachers to come out with proposals during their meetings so that standard of education in the district would come out of the doldrums. He assured them that the district assembly has planned to assist teachers doing distance-learning education. Mr Appiah Dankwa, District GNAT Chairman, who chaired the function, urged teachers to appreciate and understand what GNAT has been doing for them. Feb. 27 05