President Akufo-Addo
President Akufo-Addo has assured teachers across the country that government will no longer hold their allowances in arrears.
The arrears, which are in respect of travel, transfer grants and overtime allowances were incurred by the previous Mahama administration between 2013 and 2016.
Addressing members of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) at the commissioning of the reconstructed Bediako Conference Hall at the Association’s headquarters in Accra, President Akufo-Addo announced that “we are putting in place measures to ensure that this situation does not recur.”
He commended teacher unions across the country, including GNAT for their collaboration in the exercise which is scheduled to end by the end of March.
“Government recognizes that in all modern successful nations that have experienced results in the formation of human capital and economic development, teacher quality is the single most important determinant of their success,” he emphasised.
For Ghana to be successful, the President stressed, “we must pay attention to teachers; it is only a crop of well-trained, well-motivated teachers that can help deliver the educated and skilled workforce required to transform Ghana.”
That, according to him, was the reason government increased the basic salary of teachers by 10 percent this year.
As part of the strategic plan to attain the SDG 4 which demands an inclusive, equitable quality education and promote life-long learning opportunities, he said government was working alongside key stakeholders to develop a comprehensive teacher policy based on UNESCO benchmark to enhance the lot of Ghanaian teachers.
“Apart from that, government is pursuing reforms, including pre-tertiary curricular reforms, teacher education curricular reform, mainstreaming technical and vocational education to transform education delivery systems to meet the needs of the 21st century demands and produce skilled and confident workforce to drive the nation’s agenda,” he revealed.
President Akufo-Addo, therefore, appealed to the various teacher associations in the country to give government the needed support to improve the profession.
“Our collective goal should be to build a new Ghanaian civilization where prosperity and development are underpinned by creativity, innovation, hard work, honesty, integrity, and fellow feeling. GNAT should be the frontline actors in this noble cause,” he stated.
The President took the opportunity to congratulate Phillipa Larson on her election as President of GNAT.
He also commended the GNAT leadership for refurbishing the Bediako Conference Hall at the cost of GH¢7 million.
The facelift has increased the seating capacity of the hall from 400 to 1, 100.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent