President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Jacob Anaba, has disclosed that the union will consult its councils before deciding whether to accept the government’s proposals on the payment of teachers’ promotion-related arrears and the deprived-area allowance.
Speaking on Eyewitness News on Monday, September 28, Mr. Anaba said the proposals presented by government require further verification and consultation with the union’s leadership before a final position can be taken.
“It came to light that the Ghana Education Service has validated over 30,000 teachers who went on promotion. Now we’re talking about 80,000 teachers. And then they will submit the same to the Controller to effect their payment, the salary payment, and then the window will be up to 17th of October.”
On the deprived-area allowance, Mr. Anaba said the government has identified about 11,300 schools that could qualify under the proposed policy, but NAGRAT wants the figure verified against its own records.
“The Area Allowance, they said there are 11,300 schools. We need to also validate that. Check whether that is what we also have in our document and check and make sure that we agree with them.”
He explained that the government has proposed that the allowance takes effect from January, but the matter must first be presented to the union’s councils for consideration before any agreement is reached.
Mr. Anaba also maintained that teachers who have been promoted should be placed on the appropriate salary scale automatically, rather than having to wait for prolonged administrative processes.
The comments come after NAGRAT, the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) and the Pre-Tertiary Teachers Association of Ghana (PRETAG) declared an immediate strike on Friday, September 25, over unresolved concerns relating to teachers’ conditions of service, promotion and deprived-area allowances.
The government has, however, outlined several measures to address concerns raised by striking teacher unions after a meeting with the Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu.
As part of the measures, the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission is expected to meet the unions next Tuesday, October 6, to discuss their collective agreement and conditions of service.
A statement by the Education Ministry said a committee chaired by the Minister of Labour and Employment has also been set up to validate data on the government’s commitment to implement a 20% deprived-area allowance effective January 2027.
Source:Fiilafmonline/CitiNews
