Salom, (Sege), July 9, GNA — Scores of pupils in the Ada West District in the Greater Accra Region have called on the government to find an urgent solution to issues that have led to the strike by the various Teachers’ Unions in the country.
According to them, the Government must listen to the plea of the teachers by providing them with the Cost-of-Living Allowance (COLA) to help improve their conditions of service.
The pupils said this would help their teachers to come back to the classroom to facilitate teaching and learning.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Ada, some of the pupils expressed concerns about the negative impact of the strike on academic work and called on the government to address the plight of the teachers.
According to them, they were bearing the brunt of the industrial action and the situation would be dire if not addressed as early as possible.
They urged relevant stakeholders to help bring finality to the issue to help the teachers return to the classrooms.
During a tour of some schools in the district by the Ghana News Agency including Salom D/A Basic School; Toflokpo Presby Primary School among others it was observed that the pupils were engaged in indoor and outdoor games.
Eugenia Laako, a Primary Five pupil of the Salom D/A Basic school said, their teachers have refused to come to the classroom hence they play from morning till they close.
“We heard they want 20 percent of something, so I will plead with the government to give it to them,” the primary five pupil added.
The GNA at the time of the visit also saw some of the pupils loitering while others could be seen under trees chatting.
Speaking with the GNA, Mr. Dennis Abayateye, Headteacher of the Toflokpo Presby Primary School said he has no idea when the strike would end for normal academic work to resume.
“We are not going back anytime soon we have been taken for granted for far too long. No materials to teach so what are we to teach?
“The teacher teaches based on what he or she knows and available material he gets. As a headteacher for the past three years, I am entitled to a responsibility allowance to manage the school, travel for meetings, and others but I never had any,” Mr. Abayateye stated.
GNA