RESCIND THIS DECISION, GNAT (DEC 14, 2009)

THE widely held view that the teacher’s reward is in heaven cannot hold water in the present circumstances.
In days past, society held the teacher in very high esteem and assisted to make life somehow comfortable for members of the chalk fraternity.
Today, the educational regulations frown on the use of schoolchildren for most extra-curricula activities, and for good reasons, too.
Presently, the esteem in which teachers are held has reduced because of the misconduct of some teachers or inaction on the part of the authorities.
In fact, members of society owe a lot of the progress they have chalked up to the support of the teacher, hence the popular dictum, “If you can read and write, thank a teacher”.
The Daily Graphic thinks that society cannot pay teachers for all the good things that they have done for mankind, but we believe that something can be done to assuage the feeling among the chalk fraternity that they are not counted among the important segments of society.
It will not be fair, however, to say that nothing has been done to improve the conditions of service of teachers.
Our governments have never lost the opportunity to proclaim the teaching profession as the key driver for improved standards in education.
For this reason, the conditions of service for teachers have always been updated in line with everyday realities, except that because our wants are insatiable, the government is unable to satisfy all working people.
The present government has introduced some incentive packages, such as the special allowance for teachers who accept posting to rural areas and the pledge to settle all legitimate outstanding demands, in a move to improve the remuneration of teachers.
We need peace at all fronts of labour in order to achieve the goals of a better Ghana because any industrial dispute will disrupt productivity.
Although the government and employers do not respond with dispatch to the grievances of labour, these partners cannot be blamed solely for the agitation because the ends are competing for limited resources.
In the present instance of the directive from the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) to teachers to begin a sit-down strike from today, the Daily Graphic calls on teachers to rescind the decision for the sake of schoolchildren.
The GNAT, according to a letter addressed to the Ghana Education Service (GES), raised six key issues, including the upward review of supervision allowances, support for teachers on distance education programmes and interviews for promotion, as the reasons for their decision to embark on the industrial action.
The expectation is that in the days ahead teachers and their employers will be involved in an industrial row which will affect pupils because it is said that when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.
The Daily Graphic urges the GES and GNAT to return to the negotiation table and endeavour to remain there until they have ironed out all their differences.
The challenges in the educational sector demand a quick resolution so that all hands will be on deck to train the requisite manpower for the task of nation building.