The Ghana Education Service has directed all Regional and District Directors to monitor attendance of teachers in various schools across the country and may close down schools if strike continues.
According to the Board Chairman of the Ghana Education Service, Mr. Michael Nsowah, if teachers continue with the strike action, the government will be forced to employ new teachers to take over temporarily or may close down schools.
“We are still monitoring the situation and if they continue with their strike action, we will then be forced to recruit new teachers,” Mr. Nsowah told an Accra based Tv3 monitored by Joydaddymultimedia.
The National Labour Commission (NLC) has said the ongoing strike by three teacher unions in protest of the non-payment of arrears is illegal.
It has therefore ordered the teacher unions to “call off the strike immediately and return to work”.
This instruction comes on the back of a scheduled meeting between representatives of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Education Ministry, Fair Wages, and Salaries Commission (FWSC), of which the teacher unions were supposed to be a part of but failed to attend.
The three teacher unions, the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT) are currently embarking on a strike over demands for payment of salary arrears.
But the NLC in a statement stated that “the Commission in the exercise of the authority conferred on it by Section 139 (1)(b) of Act 651 finds the Associations’ action in violation of Act 651 and therefore the ongoing strike of the Unions is illegal.”
NLC meeting canceled the meeting between the National Labour Commission (NLC) and the three teacher unions which was scheduled for this morning was canceled.
After the first day of the industrial action, the NLC scheduled a meeting with the three teacher unions to remedy the situation.
However, speaking to the leaders of the three teacher unions, they disclosed their inability to be present for the meeting.
Executive Secretary to the National Labor Commission, Ofosu Asamoah said the teacher unions requested a reschedule.
“They have written to us that they can’t make it. They said they are outside Accra for an equally important meeting so we should reschedule. It’s the Commission that will pick a date. They were supposed to meet the Minister at 9 o’clock and they didn’t go as well. And most of them have put their phones off. How can all the executives put their phones off?”
“And when did they decide that they were going out of Accra because there was a meeting yesterday at the Ministry and they decided to continue the meeting today and chose 9 o’clock and all of a sudden between yesternight and this morning, the leadership of all the three unions have vanished,” he said.
Source: Kofi Atakora
