Bear with Gov't: Deputy Minister tells NAGRAT
The Deputy Minister for Works and Housing, Dr Hannah Bisiw, has called on members of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) to re-think their threat to lay down their tools.
“Whatever the situation is, I don't think that the best thing to do is that we lay down our tools or to protest. At the end of the day we have the students suffering,” she said, questioning “if teachers lay down their tools what happens to our wards?”
Hannah Bisiw made the appeal on Metro TV's Good Morning Ghana programme, in reaction to reports that graduate teachers have threatened to go on strike starting Monday because of what they claim is a slashing of some of their conditions of service.
She said embarking on such a strike will affect student's performance, especially, during this period that Senior High School (SHS) students are starting their exams.
According to the minister, it would be better for stakeholders of NAGRAT to dialogue again with government to find solutions to their problems.
“I will call on the stakeholders that they should go back to the table and dialogue. I think as professionals it will be better we sit down and talk,” she advised.
The minister, however, admitted that in the face of the global economic crisis and the fact that government has only been in power for just a few months, such strike actions put pressure on the government. She maintained that the “government is committed to work with the workforce of this nation to better their conditions.”
“Yes, any strike for any government is not the best,” she admitted, assuring that the government is resolved to solve these problems.