Correct Anomalies With Teachers' Salaries - Urges NAGRAT

The National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) says the Controller and Accountant General’s Department should take immediate steps to correct the anomalies associated with the payment of teachers’salaries by the end of this month.

That, it said, was to cool down the anger of its members who were not happy about the situation.

It also said teachers with additional responsibilities should be paid their arrears from January 2010 as part of their Single Spine Salary arrears.

“Henceforth Controller and Accountant Generals Department should

release payslips ahead of payment of salaries. This will help members to ascertain reasons for anything they receive at the end of the month.

“That Controller and Accountant Generals Department should come out with proper explanation to teachers on the matters raised as the explanations provided so far to leadership are not convincing enough,” it said.

These were contained in a statement issued by NAGRAT and signed by its President, Mr Christian Addai-Poku.

It said while hoping for authorities to act urgently on these matters NAGRAT would like to call on its members to remain calm and be assured that the leadership would look for a solution to their plight through any legitimate means.

It said the leadership was aware of the massive anomalies and disparities in the payment of Single Spine Salary (SSS) arrears to teachers.

“It is true that since October 2011 when government agreed to commence payment of SSS arrears many teachers have complained about errors in the payment. While some teachers received less than what isdue them others did not receive anything all.

“The three meetings NAGRAT has had with Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) and one with the Ministry of Education since December 2011 to date, have all ended with promises and resolve to correct the anomalies. However, the situation seems to aggravate month after month. The payment of arrears in February has really muddied the waters to the extent that it is becoming difficult to hold back the agitations from our members”.

Indeed, the statement said, the “recent table Controller and Accountant General’s Department generated for us has largely debunked their earlier explanation that their system was recovering overpayments made to some teachers after Controller and Accountant General’s Department ran their ‘Retro’.

“We are also further convinced that no teacher at any rank has conversion difference upon their migration onto the Single Spine Salary Structure. It therefore cannot be entirely true that some teachers did not get the arrears because they have conversion difference.”

Furthermore, it said, NAGRAT had also detected that payment of arrears did not take into consideration teachers with additional responsibilities (e.g. Assistant Director II with additional responsibility moves from 18H to 19L).

The statement said it was also an unacceptable practice for the Controller and Accountant General’s Department to withhold teachers’ payslips for many weeks even when salaries had been paid. “This does not help teachers to understand whatever they are given at the bank,” it said.