By Naa Shormei Odonkor
Koforidua, Nov. 10, GNA-Public school students in the New Juaben South Municipality have appealed to the authorities to give in to their teachers’ demands on the appointment of the Ghana Education Service (GES) Director-General, Dr Eric Nkansah.
The students, who stated this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) during a visit to some public schools during contact hours in Koforidua to ascertain the impact of the ongoing strike on academic work, said yield to the teachers’ request would allow normal school activities to resume quickly.
They also noted that private school teachers did not strike as frequently as public-school teachers, causing students in the public schools to fall behind academically.
A form one junior high school student of the Densoano M/A Basic School, who spoke to the Ghana News Agency on anonymity, said for three days running students have been reporting to school with the hope that teachers may return to the classroom but to no avail.
The student noted that teaching had not taken place and that students were sent home because teachers who came refused to teach.
“Today, three teachers came to school, but they later asked us to go home. They told us to listen to the radio to be informed when the strike is called off so that we can return to school,” she stated.
Commenting on the strike, Mr Peter D. Kpakpo-Atsem, the Eastern Regional Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers, told the GNA in an interview that the teachers’ strike was motivated by several unresolved concerns impacting teachers.
He cited, among other things, salary payment delays, upgrading and promotion challenges, a delay in providing teachers with paid-for computers, and complaints expressed against the newly appointed Director-General of Education.
Despite the several problems mentioned as the reason for the strike, Mr Kpakpo-Atsem remarked that teachers’ dislike of the newly appointed Director-General of Education had taken the limelight because due process was not followed.
He said, the newly appointed Director-General did not qualify to hold that position, adding, “The Director-General must be selected from the Regional Directors and must attain the rank of Director One.”
He described the action of appointing a ‘banker’ to the Director-General of GES as “demotivation” to teachers who are doing their best to go through the right process in the teaching service.
Mr Kpakpo-Atsem noted that the strike may be called off depending on the outcome of the negotiation with the government, despite acknowledging that students were affected badly.
He advised the public, particularly parents and guardians, to seek accurate information on the matter in order not to misrepresent the facts.
GNA