Teachers' union strike unfairly endangering pupils' education — Ahiagbah

NPP National Communications Director, Richard Ahiagbah

The ongoing teachers' strike is unfairly harming pupils' education, according to National Communications Director of the ruling NPP, Richard Ahiagbah.

In a post on X on Wednesday, March 27, Mr. Ahiagbah criticised the teacher unions for "leveraging their pupils' education to drive their bargain," calling it "excessive and unfair to the pupils."

"While we respect the Teacher Unions' right to strike, it is unfair to leverage their pupils' education to drive their bargain. This is excessive and unfair to the pupils," Ahiagbah wrote.

The teachers' unions - GNAT, NAGRAT and CCTU-Gh started strike action last Wednesday over what they say is the government's failure to address their poor conditions of service.

But the ruling party’s spokesman argued the strike is unnecessary as the current government has invested heavily in teachers' welfare.

"The government has done a lot for teachers, including terminating the punitive 3-month policy inherited from the NDC and introducing the Professional Teacher Allowance of GHC 1,200 for professional and GHC 600 for non-professional teachers," he stated.

Ahiagbah further called on teachers to return to the classroom while negotiations are ongoing.

“This avoidable deadlock must not be allowed to taint the government's unprecedented investment, totaling GHC 114.5 billion, in the educational sector."

Despite reaching some of their demands, the teachers' unions insist the strike continues until government addresses all their demands.