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B/A NAGRAT advocates improved salaries
for teachers
Sunyani (B/A), Feb. 27, Ghanadot/GNA– The Brong-Ahafo
Regional Secretariat of Ghana National Association of
Teachers (NAGRAT), called on government to as a matter of
urgency, improve upon the salaries of teachers, pending the
implementation of the proposed single spine salary
structure.
The NAGRAT expressed concern about the high cost of living
in the face of astronomical increases in utility bills, fuel
prices and the general cost of living, which according to
the group were becoming unbearable for the average teacher.
Mr Raphael Kwame Owusu, Regional Chairman, said these at a
press conference in Sunyani on Wednesday, which was attended
by all zonal NAGRAT chairmen in the region.
He said the focus of the groups agitation was to make the
teaching profession attractive and a job of choice and to
minimize the brain drain that had bedeviled the education
sector.
Mr Owusu said “These cannot be labeled as anti-government,
rebellious or nuisance, as some sections of the populace
seem to portray NAGRAT.”
He said NAGRAT was fed up with the “feet-dragging attitude”
of government and all stakeholders in the education sector
as far as issues bothering teachers’ welfare were concerned.
Mr. Owusu alleged there had been a calculated process of
marginalization of teachers, especially graduate teachers by
government.
Mr Owusu expressed regret about the distortions in the
current salary structure in the education structure and the
non-payment of frozen October 2006 salaries to members.
He recalled that in the heat of the NAGRAT industrial strike
in October 2006, government announced at a press conference
that by January, 2007, teachers would be smiling when the
new salary scheme based on the principles of equal work and
equal pay was implemented.
Mr Owusu said unfortunately for two years now that proposed
new salary scheme was yet to see the light of the day.
He said pending the implementation of the new scheme, the
entire Brong-Ahafo NAGRAT council of graduate teachers and
the entire teachers in the country were calling on
government to do something about salaries before the
situation got out of hand,” Mr Owusu said graduate teachers
in the region had resolved to put on red bands in October
every year to remind the public of the unfair treatment
meted to teachers by the government.
He called for the implementation of the report of the
Bediako Commission appointed by the government over the
CAP-30 and the SNNIT pension schemes.
Mr Owusu entreated the NAGRAT national secretariat to be
more proactive and to use legitimate means to resolve issues
affecting teachers.
He commended media practitioners in the region for
supporting teachers on issues bothering their salaries
teachers and other personnel in the education sector.
GNA
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