Volta/ Oti Teacher Unions Join Resistance Against Pre Tertiary Education Bill

The resistance by teacher unions in the country against the pre-tertiary education Bill that government is sponsoring in Parliament has received latest support from teacher Unions in the Volta and Oti Regions.

At a press conference in Ho today, leaders of the teacher Unions in the two sister regions added their voice to the calls on government to suspend the Bill and start engagement with the teachers.

“It is crystal clear that the Bill is harmful to the teaching profession. It is set out to destroy the management arrangement and further enhance the winner takes all agenda by the political class. We the teachers in the Volta and Oti Regions hereby declare that we stand in solidarity with our colleagues in the other regions to resist the passage of the Bill in its current form with all our might and strength. If we destroy the management body or GES, it is our heritage. We wish to send a strong signal that henceforth, we will not allow any appointment of non-teachers and educational workers as management over us. We wish to state again that the pre-tertiary bill should be suspended,” a statement read by the Volta Regional Chairman of Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), David Katah, said.

Already, the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana (CCT), have been keeping their response on the issue on a confrontational footing.

They want the Bill to be suspended until all outstanding issues with the Ministry of Education are resolved.

According to the teacher Unions, the new Bill will take authority and control of the schools away from the teachers and put them into the hands of politicians.

For instance, aspects of the bill which give the Head of Local Government Service the power to appoint Heads and Staff of District Education as well as promote, transfer, discipline and dismiss staff of the District Education Unit is a sore point of confrontation.

The Volta and Oti Region Teacher Unions fear that the Bill will mess up what they say is an educational system that has stood the test of time.