15th March 2021 the Ghana National Association of Teachers GNAT brought a Highlights of National Executives meeting that was held on 6th March 2021 at the GNAT Headquarters -Accra.
There were about 21 labour issues which according to the communique was dealt with. The 7th point was on the issue of upgrading of Teachers from lower ranks that are senior superintendent II to Principal Superintendent. “The upgrading of Teachers from the lower ranks up to Principal Superintendent has been delayed due to delay in securing financial clearance from the ministry of finance.” GNAT stated.
click here to read the full statement
But when the Director-General of Ghana Education Service prof. Opoku Amankwa was discussing with heads of senior High Schools in the five Northern regions on how to improve the 2021 WASSCE performance of students, he disclosed that the Management of the Ghana Education Service freeze upgrading of Teachers because the majority of the teachers went to further studies without seeking approval from the GES. “Management froze upgrading of these staff for some time now because many of them went for further studies on various programs without seeking necessary approval from the Service,” he said.
Now the difficult part to comprehend is, it is that the leaders of GNAT do not meet the management of GES before addressing their members on the upgrading issue or they just wanted their members to know that they’re working on their behalf to ensure that they will be upgraded.
These are some of the inconsistencies in teacher unions that are making teachers lose hope in the ability of the union leaders to fight for the welfare of their members.