Strike over GES DG's appointment? Ridiculous!

Industrial actions are usually orchestrated by pressing issues that need urgent redress usually for the benefit of members in a labour union. Waking up to the news that the three teacher unions in Ghana namely GNAT, NAGRAT and CCT-GH have in a joint press release, declared a strike over the appointment of the new GES Director General, Dr. Eric Nkansah is the most ridiculous action to have been taken by the teacher unions.

Dr. Nkansah's appointment came with a massive ohm of resistance by the teacher unions on the basis that the new DG is not a teacher but a banker, has no education background and has not risen through the GES ranks.

Inasmuch as it would have been perfect for a DG of GES to have been selected from professional teachers on the rank of Director I (the rank of regional directors), Section 20 of the Pre Tertiary Education Act 2020 Act 1049 does not in any way stipulate whether the DG should be appointed from professionals or non-professionals. This means that the President can appoint a street boy as the DG of GES. This is the lacuna in our laws that needs to be filled.

Why most teachers are not in support of the strike

The declaration of a strike over an appointment that doesn't in any way breach the law is the lowest point of the teacher unions in Ghana. This is the only industrial action by teacher unions that has not gathered any momentum to warrant the support of even half of their members.

1. The former DG, although a professional teacher, became a DG of GES without passing through the ranks being demanded from Dr. Nkansah by the unions. He left GES below the rank of Senior Superintendent II and came back as a DG to head professionals on ranks as high as Director I. Teacher unions were content with that appointment.

2. During the tenure of the immediate past DG, Prof. Opoku Amankwa, a professional teacher the unions so much desired, teachers were deducted to pay for the supply of laptops. Till now, and almost a year, over 60% of teachers have not received, and a refund of 44.20 cedis resulting from an over deduction for the phantom laptop is yet to be paid to teachers. Teacher unions are content.

3. Teachers have received the same salaries amidst the skyrocketing inflation rate and the rapid depreciation of the cedi yet teacher unions do not even know the date for negotiation of the 2023 base pay. What they care, even more than the fast-depreciating, stagnant, and inflation-eaten salary of their members in a hell of a Ghanaian economy, is a needless strike over someone's appointment.

4. Many teachers who were recruited from 2012 to 2016 are still owed legacy arrears, while several others promoted have not been put on their new salary scale to reflect their newly promoted ranks for months and years. The teacher unions seem okay with this development too.

5. The current Collective Agreement for teachers which the teacher unions have failed to supervise its implementation to the latter as they promised, expired in August 2022 with no signal of its amendment as provided for in Section 4(1) of the same document.

The way forward

The teacher unions should work towards addressing the myriad of challenges confronting teacher especially those that affect the welfare of their members.

The teacher unions should champion the crusade for an immediate amendment in portions of the Pre-tertiary Education Act 2020 Act 1049 to make the appointment of the DG strictly a preserve for professional teachers who have risen to the rank of Director I.

Until then, the declaration of strike by the three teacher unions against the will and support of most of their members is a ridiculous venture and a wild goose chase.