The Lingering Dilemma Of The Ghanaian Teacher

Isaac Nunoo

“Those who educate children well are more to be honoured than they who produce them; for these only gave them life, those the art of living well.” ― Aristotle

“Address our grievances with all the seriousness they deserve else we shall strike!” This laconic statement is the crux of recent NAGRAT agitations.

Ghana like many other countries around the world, especially, those in the Third World has, over the years, sought to better its education system through reforms and projections based on the educational needs of the country. However, it is intriguing to note that most of these suggestions and recommendations relegate the significance of the teacher in implementing and sustaining these wonderful recommendations.

Such reforms often down play teachers' interest while at the same time saddling them with responsibilities. How sincere are these reforms? Are teachers well-resourced and taken care of by successive governments to guarantee the desired learning outcomes?

Interestingly, teachers are regarded by many policy-makers and political leaders as the conduits for the materialization of educational reforms and recommendations but the very catalyst that will empower them to offer their best has almost always suffered “stillbirth.”

Before NAGRAT's threat, UTAG had already sent a strong signal to government about its members' displeasure with the scrapping of their research allowance. UTAG contends that government did that without due consultations with its executives. At a press conference held in Accra on 7th May, 2014 Christian Addai-Poku, NAGRAT President, did not mince words when he said the teachers would embark on a demonstration on May 15 if government failed to address their grievances.

Their concerns include inter alia the transfer of contributions of Ghana Education Service employees' share of the pension contributions into the Occupational Pension Scheme to be managed by a private fund; non-payment of 2011-2012 increment credit arrears; staff rationalization and non-payment of transfer grants. He also complained about the cancellation of tax exemptions on cars the association imports for its members and government's unwillingness to give the association any hearing. May I ask whether what is good for the goose is no longer good for the gander?

For I know for a fact that there are crops of public sector workers who enjoy this same tax exemption on imported cars still.

The Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) until its implementation seemed to be a panacea to the myriad of financial quagmires confronting many public sector workers including the teacher. While many public sector workers including those in the health sector and the forces saw remarkable improvement in their finances, teachers were left behind.

As I speak, category two and three allowances which Dr. Smith Graham, chief executive officer of the Fare Wages and Salaries Commission claims teachers qualify to benefit from, have not been implemented. As for market premium for teachers, the least talk about it the better. Unfortunately, teacher unions in Ghana have over the years fought among themselves instead of uniting to fight a common course. I look forward to seeing GNAT, The Progressive Teachers Association and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers Association joining hands with NAGRAT to present a formidable front in fighting for the welfare of the teacher. It is gratifying that in this particular incident NAGRAT and the other teacher unions have added their voice to it.

What is the problem? Is the teacher cursed or is just that the teacher is just troubled by those who should know better especially because all of them belong to the elite and as such the teacher taught them all. Just recently, the nation woke up to a very gruesome incident where a tutor of Adisadel College had hanged himself citing financial vicissitudes as the precipitator of his action. I tell you the truth, there are chunk of teachers in this society who are half sick and emotionally fragile. What can such people do for our wards and ultimately our BELOVED nation? So, who is to blame for this? Do you know that a fraction of the teacher's skimpy salary actually goes to cushion some needy students?

It is about time we paid rapt heed to the World Teacher's Day message issued in 2007 that “… Dissatisfaction with loss in status, low salaries, poor teaching and learning conditions and lack of career progression or adequate professional training has driven large numbers of teachers out of the profession, sometimes after only a few years of service.”

I believe that the time has come for us to rise as a nation to deal with this canker decisively if we do not want a replication of the Canadian Educational Dark Age in Ghana. Enough of the rhetoric, let our words become our deeds.

We should all be mindful that teaching is a noble profession which deserves respect and reward both on earth and in heaven. The teacher's reward is not only in heaven. Teachers live in this world with their families and are to dispense their occupational, social, and financial duties on this Earth. After all, who or what guarantees the teacher a bona fide passage to heaven?

I was very sad when a friend told me that the auntie advised him that as a teacher his reward is in heaven in this 21st century. The auntie cited a beautiful your-reward-is-in-heaven scenario at a supermarket where a man was bargaining for a reduction in the cost of assorted items he had picked from the shop and then a young lady who had just entered the supermarket drew close by apparently to greet the man but noticed what was going on and instantly dived her hand into her purse and paid for all the items the man had picked.

The man who was obviously nonplussed shed some tears of perhaps joy or frustration. “Oh sir, I was your student. You taught me at primary school and … secondary school.” His tears, I was told, ran down his cheeks uncontrollably perhaps for Joy. You may regard it as a heaven-sent luck for the teacher but let us not be oblivious that “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). It could have been the converse.

It is mind boggling that in spite of continuous failures in our educational reforms, the role of teachers in facilitating their (the reforms) successful implementation is still considered relative. Teachers are often not even engaged in deliberations geared towards educational reforms in the country.

It is posited that better targeted deployment and management, salary and incentives commensurate with qualifications as pertained to other occupations requiring similar qualifications, better working and living conditions, career development and professional support and opportunities are the sine qua non of quality teaching and learning.

Teachers are the most treasured resource in education. It's time to appreciate their worth in our society. Teachers are the silent heroes of our communities.

Isaac Nunoo, Is
A Tutor, Communicator, And Researcher
([email protected])