Following weeks of agitations by the Conference of Heads and Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) and some teacher unions, the Ghana Education Service (GES) has announced that it has released some money to cover subsidies which were owed the secondary schools.
CHASS had earlier issued a threat to close down Senior High Schools (SHS) nationwide, following delays by the government in paying the subsidies.
However, according to the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the GES, Reverend Jonathan Bettey, the money meant for the schools had been paid, forestalling any potential closure of secondary schools.
“We’ve also conceded that there are pending things that government has to pay; the subsidies and the other grants. Luckily, when they were in after all issues were thrashed out, cheques were signed and were given to the executives of CHASS,” he told Citi News.
“With all these things I think there won’t be any need for anybody to say that the schools should not resume. Schools will reopen on schedule.”
He also advised schools who had not yet received their subsidies to submit their data to the GES office in order for any issues to be addressed.
“Others who are also involved, there is a need for them to send some data to the office for us to cross-check how much they need to get. If all those defaulters submit their documents, all of them will be given their money. The money for the two terms were paid and the one for the third term which we said we were in the process.
Teacher unions wade in
GNAT hinted that, they might declare a nationwide strike in September 2016, if the subsidy arrears of the various second-cycle institutions are not paid.
NAGRAT insists that the unions have a say in the matter as the work of the teachers are affected by the situation.
“NAGRAT is not happy with the way things are because we can’t just imagine how you fail to fund education and you still expect education to function well. We are reducing ourselves to mediocrity where people think that whether we have the resources or not, education must go on,” the President of NAGRAT, Christian Addae Poku told Citi News.
However, the GES responded, saying that GNAT’s threat is out of place as they and NAGRAT are not part of CHASS and had no stake in the matter.
Source: citifmonline
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