Rt. Rev. Dr. Abraham Nana Opare Kwakye, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, has called for urgent action to resolve the ongoing strike by the Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG).
The strike, which began on June 14, was triggered by the government’s failure to implement CETAG’s arbitral award and conditions of service, further compounded by the freezing of CETAG members’ July salaries.
The industrial action has left trainee teachers stranded, disrupted dissertation supervision for final-year students, and thrown the academic calendar into disarray.
Rt. Rev. Kwakye says the Ministry of Education, the National Labour Commission (NLC), the Fair Wages and Salary Commission (FWSC), the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), and must attach a sense of urgency to the situation to continuously engage CETAG leadership to negotiate a resolution.
“There is an urgent matter that needs to be resolved and it has to do with the 8 weeks strike by the tutors. Since June they have been on strike. Our colleges are yet to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. I want to at this point on behalf of the entire Christian community in this country make a passionate appeal to the Ministry of Education, the National Labor Commission, the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission, and the leadership of CETAG to quickly find a middle ground and come to a settlement.”
He added that “the struggle between CETAG and the government has led to difficulties imposed on the students of our colleges of Education. And I want to take the opportunity to request a quick settlement of this matter. It is not a good thing to leave these young people for several months without any sense of purpose”.
The Principal of Presbyterian College of Education Akropong Akuapem Rev. Dr. Nicholas Apreh Siaw explained that the industrial action which has existed for about 8 weeks has thrown the academic calendar of the second semester of 2023/2024 overboard
He said that it has caused massive disruption to the calendar and grounded all activities on campus.
The Principal, therefore, added his voice to calls on the government and stakeholders to ensure immediate resolution for the lecturers to resume.
These remarks were made during the college’s 16th Graduation Ceremony, which was held under the theme “Teacher Leadership: Nurturing Minds and Impacting Communities.”
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/Kojo Ansah
