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Pay our teachers to return to the classroom; pupils appeal to government

Pupils in class

Pupils in public schools in the Tamale Metropolis have been left to their own fate after their teachers abandoned them due to an ongoing strike.

Even though the pupils were aware of their teachers nationwide strike, they went to school in anticipation of some sympathy but to their surprise no teacher was present.

When Zaa News visited the Tishegu Anglican and Police Barracks primary schools, it was a field day for the pupils to play their best games.

Some of the pupils who to spoke Zaa News said they are not happy about their teacher’s decision because they were supposed to start their end of term exams today.

’’We are unhappy about today’s strike. We are pleading with our teachers to have patience with government and return to the school so we can start our examinations. We are also pleading with the president to pay our teachers their monies.’’

The pupils then made a passionate appeal to government to attend to their teachers needs so that they can return to the classroom.

All public pre-tertiary teachers have from today, Monday abandon their classrooms across the country in protest of what they call legacy arrears.

Three teacher unions- the Ghana National Association of Teachers, the National Association of Graduate Teachers and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers say the Ghana Education Service has failed to process their salary arrears from 2012 to 2015.

President of the Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana (CCT), Mr. King Awudu Ali said the teachers will only return to the classrooms when the monies are paid.

Majority of the arrears span from 2012 to 2015 including some other arrears from 2017 to 2018 but those are not as much as those between 2012 and 2015.

The monies are in excess of thousands of cedis. This, the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Ministry of Education have in separate press releases described as baseless, illegal and shocking.

Authorities have held a series of meetings with the leadership of the teacher groups where it discussed the payment of the said arrears with the modalities involved adding that a December 5 ultimatum given by the teachers was not realistic.

But the teachers insist their strike is justified on all fronts hence; they will not rescind their decision.

By: Bawumia Kasiru

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