By Love Wilhelmina Abanonave
The President of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Rev. Isaac Owusu, has expressed concern over the poor lump sum payments teachers receive after years of service.
Rev. Issac Owusu was speaking at 54th Delegates Conference of teachers. Rev Owusu was making an appeal to President John Mahama to address thorny issues with teachers’ salary and conditions of service in general.
“Your Excellency, a teacher who has worked for over 40 years cannot even boast of GHS500,000 as his/her lump sum and this is not good”, he said.
Rev. Owusu highlighted other challenges faced by teachers in Ghana, including attacks by students or their guardians, inadequate resources to ensure effective teaching and learning, poor infrastructure, and delayed allowances, which negatively impact teacher motivation and educational delivery and outcomes. He advocated for improved conditions of service for teachers.
The GNAT President’s comments come amid ongoing negotiations between teacher unions and the government over a Collective Agreement.
President John Mahama in his response, assured teachers of the government’s resolve to review the Single Spine Pay Policy and address concerns over the three-tier pension scheme
