Some 63 teachers in Asunafo District threaten to go on strike

Goaso (B/A), Oct 07, GNA - Sixty-nine trained teachers serving in basic schools in the Asunafo District are poised to embark on an indefinite strike if their salary arrears for the past 14 months and transport allowance to their first stations are not paid immediately.

The teachers, who completed their training in 2002, are paid allowances that, they said are too meagre to meet their daily expenses. In an interview with the Ghana News Agency a spokesman for the teachers, Mr Ibrahim Salifu, blamed the non-payment of the arrears on the inaction of the District Directorate of Education.

Mr. Salifu said their counterparts in other districts have received their monies but "the only effort the Asunafo District Office makes has been their ability to give sugar-coated assurances which have so far yielded nothing."

He said, at one time the District Director of Education, Mr Baryeh Amaniampong, told him and his colleagues that their predecessors had to endure hardship for 15 months before their arrears were paid.

He would therefore, not understand why their batch would not allow the office ample time to liaise with headquarters for the money. The District Directorate denied having been the cause of the problem.

They called on the affected teachers to rescind their decision in the interest of their pupils and industrial peace.

The office said a strike by the teachers would further aggravate the already deplorable performance of basic schools in the district with as many as nine schools registering zero percent at the 2003 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).

When GNA contacted the District Office of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) the District Secretary, Mr Duku Dengah, said information on the unpaid arrears got to his office late and appealed to the teachers not to go on strike.