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Trained teachers who passed out from the various training colleges in 2013 have lamented the ill-treated they have received from government and the fact that The Ghana National Association of Teachers have turned deaf ears to their pleas.

Numbering over 8000 pupil’s teachers, the group leader (name withheld) in an interview with Ghnews360.com indicated that their outstanding allowance owed them have not been paid since 2013 despite incessant calls on government to do so.

According to the group leader, they have since looked to their umbrella organisation, GNAT to deal with the matter as they do with all issues bothering on arrears but due to the fact that it doesn’t affect almost all member in leadership position , they have turned death ears to it.

He said that due to the unpaid arrears, most of the teachers, averaging the age of 25 are constantly living in debt because they took loans to rent apartment where they were posted to with the hope that when government pays them then they pay off the debt but that did not happen because government chose to pay them only about 15% of the amount owed them.

He indicated that though they have no “immediate plan of staging a strike given the lack of support from GNAT” and the fact that government has demonstrated they want to cut down on the number of teachers, their desire for the job has been greatly affected and that has also impacted on academic work.

“We cannot afford to stage a strike because from the look of things, the government already wants to slash down the number of teachers and wouldn’t hesitate to use us as scapegoats”

He went on to state that “the lack of support from GNAT is also a reason that makes a strike action unwise at the moment”

He said that “if the organisation is only interested in issue that affect every teacher and by extension those at the helm, then there is no need for them to be members of a group that will only attend to their  needs if it affect those in leadership position”

“The current issue may not concern all teacher in general but the fact that we are also members of the group who contribute over 400000 Ghana Cedis to GNAT in the form of dues should prompt our leaders to act”

However, not in interested in taking a rushed decision, they have given The Association two months to act on the issue or see over 8000 members opt out from the group.

He also called on president Mahama to show compassion to the affected teacher because all the year groups before and after them have been paid their arrears in full.

“Almost all of us are working with dissatisfaction and even though we keep trying our best, we are unable to work with the joy and excitement required to bring the best out of the student ” due to the hardship this has brought upon us”

“The reason why government schools’ are under performing is largely due to lack of motivation and that is exactly what we are going through”

“The value of the money has depreciated tremendously and if this government has some compassion, he wouldn’t hesitate to pay us off” He concluded.

THE ISSUE

The 2013 pupil teacher trainees worked for over a period of 11 on part payment as Controller and Accountant General worked to integrate them into the national payroll. As a general practice for teacher and nurses, the arrears if paid bring a lot of relieve to them. Unfortunately, the over 8000 teachers who passed in 2013 out have been singled out without any reason leaving most of them dissatisfied and engulfed in death. Unfortunately, their umbrella organisation, GNAT has shown very little commitment to helping them get the money.

These are young men and women who have left their homes to work in deplorable conditions in remote villages.

On behalf of the affected teacher, Ghnews360.com is calling on our President to act on the issue and pay them the arrears as soon as possible. The fact that they will not be bold enough to stage a strike action or even make their individual identities known should not be taken advantage of.

We believe our president is listening because gradually his government is carving a niche for itself as one that is anti-teachers.

For all the talk about quality education, there can never be a quality education without a satisfied teacher. At the moment, over 8000 of them are crying with no hope of where help will come from.

Each of these teachers is handling classes averaging about 35 students. If the maths is done, those supposed to act will know that their inaction is affecting the future of over 280,000 children.

We hope someone is listening ?