Over 13,000 teachers cleared for payment in May

Europa 11:16 - 25 April 2016

Teachers across the country earlier this year served notice of a strike on February 29, 2016 if government fails to pay them their outstanding arrears by the end of February.

Government has cleared about 13,258 teachers for payment in the ongoing validation process for their salary arrears and allowances.

Acting President of Coalition of Concerned Teachers, Mr. King Ali Awudu has told Pulse.com.gh that the said teachers are likely to be paid in May.

"The union's position was that the validation should be completed before payment is made. And now government is saying that it wants to pay those that has been done because when it has delayed so huge, payment might be a problem, so we are yet to sit down with them to nullify whichever decision was taken earlier. But for this month of April, no payment will be made. If payment will be made at all, it will be in vain," he said.

Government had subsequently met the various teacher unions on two different occasions to try and reach an agreement for the teachers to rescind their strike decision.

However, government on the third meeting with the teacher unions on Wednesday ordered the release of an amount of GHS 1,579,078.20 to settle 2012 salary arrears of teachers across the country.

A communiqué signed by the various stakeholders at the meeting said arrears for 2013 and 2014 will, however, not be paid, until authorities validate some payment processes which will begin on Thursday.

The validation of documents began to pave way for the teachers to be paid their arrears.

The teacher unions, including the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), and the Concerned on March 1, 2016 officially suspended their intended strike which was scheduled for February 29, 2016 until validation of their claims and documents are completed.

The General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), David Ofori Acheampong, said even though they are yet to receive full payment of their salary arrears from government, they will hold on to the strike following the validation process that has begun by the Controller and Account General’s Department, CAGD and the Audit Department.

The validation process, which was however put on hold following the absence of some documents to complete the process, later commenced on March 29, 2016 to pave way for the arrears of teachers to be paid.