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GNAT threatens to strike if…

General Secretary of GNAT David Ofori Acheampong said they will embark on a strike if the GES does not pay the subsidy arrears owed public Senior High Schools.

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CHASS earlier this week threatened to close down Senior High Schools (SHS) nationwide for the 2016/2017 academic year if the government fails to pay subsidies owed schools across the country.

But the General Secretary of GNAT, David Ofori Acheampong, argued that even though CHASS has taken an unfortunate stance, the subsidy is also needed to keep the schools running properly. Speaking on Accra-based Citi FM, he explained that they would support CHASS in any action they take if the GES does not pay the subsidy arrears by September.

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“We’ve gone past the era where we should be embarking on nationwide strikes because of salary. If the kind of logistics that we need to perform our jobs efficiently is denied us, why should we sit in the classroom? We are daring them that we are going to meet them and put up our statement. We are daring the Director General of the GES that if it comes to September and these things are not available to the schools; we’ll fully support them [CHASS] as an association.”

In response to CHASS, the GES held a press conference Thursday and blamed the untimely release of feeding grant to second cycle schools on the 'lackadaisical attitude' of some school heads in the submission of data. The Director-General of the Ghana Education Service Mr Jacob Kor threatened to query headteachers who have not submitted their details for processing.

“I have the list of schools that have not submitted data for the data we are processing now. How do we process some and leave others? I will query all those heads who as at now have not submitted the data for the processing of the subsidy,” he said.

Nonetheless, David Ofori Acheampong believes the reaction of the GES to the press conference of CHASS is unfortunate.

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“The response of the Director General is unfortunate. When there are problems and the problems are not being resolved, the only avenue is to bring it to the court of public opinion that these are the challenges that confront us and therefore if nothing is done about it, we are unable to carry out our responsibilities as expected of us. I believe it should have created a platform for the Director General to have met them to see the way forward,” he suggested.

“To issue threats and say the teachers are irresponsible is completely unacceptable. Who doesn’t know that the district education office which the Director General himself superintends are so badly resourced to the extent that most of the district directors go to the secondary schools for A4 paper to do their official work? Even funds for fuel to move the regional director’s vehicle is solicited from the second cycle schools,” he added.

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