Teacher unions promise to make up missed lessons after strike

Ghanaian

The President of the Coalition of Concerned Teachers and spokesperson for the striking teacher unions, King Ali Awudu, has reassured parents that teachers will make up for missed lessons once they return to the classroom after resolving the standoff with the government.

Concerns have been raised, especially by final-year Junior High School students, about the impact of the strike on

Read full articletheir preparation for the upcoming Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).

Mr. Awudu dismissed these concerns, stating that teachers are committed to ensuring the success of their students.

“For the lost time, as teachers, we have always done it. For example, when Covid came and teachers were at home for about 10 months, it was we [teacher unions] that proposed to the government that we wanted to work extra to make up for the lost time. That is why we introduced this semester system in the basic school and all that, where for about four to five months continuously, the children were in school and we were teaching them.

“You go to the Senior High School and additional hours were added to the timetable at no additional remuneration to the teacher. We love the kids and no teacher wants his or her students to fail exams. So, most definitely when we go back we teach them and we know how we are going to handle matters to make up for the lost time. That one I promise you, we are going to handle matters to make up the lost time,” he stated on Joy FM's Newsnight.

The nationwide strike, declared by the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT-Gh) on March 20, is due to the negotiation of a new collective agreement that should have been completed by February 29, 2024.

However, negotiations were not concluded, leading to the strike action.

Despite progress in negotiations, with the National Labour Commission (NLC) resolving three out of the nine concerns raised by the teacher unions regarding issues such as the provision of laptops, reinstatement of blocked salaries by the Office of the Special Prosecutor, and the establishment of terms of service for teachers, the striking unions are yet to call off the strike.

The NLC has stated that negotiations will continue on the remaining six concerns.