Graduate teachers, government urged to relax positions

Kumasi, Nov. 20, GNA - The Asante United Front (AUF), a pressure group in Kumasi on Monday urged the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the government to relax their positions on the current impasse to allow for a peaceful settlement to be reached. The Front said issues affecting basic education were matters of Ghana's future and so care must be taken to ensure that the legacy left for posterity would be one that everybody would be proud of. This was contained in a statement signed by Opanin Kwame Afreh and Mr C W Nuakoh, Chairman and Secretary of the AUF respectively and issued to the Press in Kumasi on Monday.

The Statement said care must be taken by people to ensure that comments and statements that were likely to inflame passions were limited to the barest minimum or if possible disregarded completely. It said the end of the problem was nowhere near home considering the position that the Ashanti Region branch of the Graduate Teachers had taken.

"It is not just enough to assume that having been compelled by a court order to go back to the classroom the dissatisfied teachers will demonstrate commitment in their work", it said.

It said it was not time to apportion blame to any of the parties in the conflict adding that the teachers as well as the government had genuine problems that could not be wished away or taken for granted. "A situation like this, calls for a sober reflection of the issues on the table to enable an effective solution to be arrived at. This is the tine for mutual co-operation and understanding for the feuding parties", the statement said.

The AUF stressed the need for all parents and well meaning Ghanaians to join them to appeal to Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Asantehene to take up the challenge to help resolve the impasse since education was dear to his heart.