Gov’t releases Ghc40m for teachers’ arrears
In a letter dated March 29, 2018, the Ministry indicated that the funds released will cover some “2,566 Ghana Education Service employees.”
This comes after the National Association of Graduate Teachers [NAGRAT], declared an industrial action over the outstanding arrears owed its members.
However, this letter was only released on Wednesday, April 4, 2018; the same day NAGRAT declared a strike.
The letter further indicated that the said amount “should be charged against the March 2018 salaries of the Ministry of Education per the Ministry of Finance General Warrant for salaries issued each month.”
Reacting to this development, NAGRAT President, Angel Carbonu, told Accra-based Citi FM that “2,500 covers just less than 5 percent of the total number of teachers.”
He indicated that the Association will not call off its strike until NAGRAT “monitors the payment regime and ensure that by April 6 teachers are indeed paid, while the government gives a road-map for the payment of salary arrears for the rest of the teachers.”
Meanwhile, a Deputy Finance Minister, Abena Osei-Asare, has described NAGRAT’s strike as needless. She explained this is because there has been an official correspondence between the Ministry and the GES on timelines for the settlement of arrears.
“We said we were going to issue a release letter before March 3, indicating that by April 6 their monies will hit their accounts, so the teacher unions should wait until then before issuing complaints.”
“The CAGD was working throughout the Easter break to ensure that the money hits the accounts by April 6,” she said.
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