Some of the aggrieved teachers in Tarkwa-Nsuaem
Teachers in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality of the Western Region have commenced a sit-down strike in the area.
The industrial action by the teachers is in protest against alleged brutalities meted out to some residents and three teachers by military personnel during an anti-galamsey operation at Adiewoso in the municipality.
It would be recalled that after the alleged beatings of the teachers by the military, the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) issued a two-week ultimatum that if it does not hear from the authorities concerned, members of GNAT in the area would advise themselves.
Chairperson of the Tarkwa-Nsuaem branch of GNAT, Madam Perpetual Bosomprah, said, “Our previous press conference held at Nsuaem on Tuesday, May 5, 2026, on the assault of three of our members, we called on the relevant authorities to help address the issue.”
She noted that regrettably, no authority responded to their demands, specifically the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the security services.
She said strangely, an education director visited the school of the affected teachers and met their absence, but demanded that the teachers should be in the classrooms teaching.
“We were surprised to hear the news because the affected teachers were undergoing psychological healing.
“We are extremely dissatisfied with the director’s action. The female director could not even advise the affected teachers to report the incident to the police and collect medical forms to seek medical attention,” she pointed out.
The Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal GNAT president then declared, “Effective Tuesday, May 26, 2026, all teachers in the municipality are required to wear red bands to school and participate in the sit-down strike. We mean all teacher unions including NAGRAT.”
Background
The public school teachers of Adiewoso Basic School in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality of the Western Region were subjected to severe beatings and other forms of molestation by some alleged soldiers about two weeks ago.
The alleged military men besieged the Adiewoso community in the early hours of that fateful day to carry out the alleged barbaric act.
The purported military men stormed the community on the invitation of a rubber processing company in the area.
The soldiers were there to stop illegal miners or ‘galamseyers’ in the town from mining in the rubber plantation of the processing company, which is very close to the town.
The action by the soldiers resulted in a confrontation between them and the “galamseyers”. The soldiers therefore left for their barracks after the banter.
However, unknown to the residents of Adiewoso, the military men stormed the town later and subjected the residents, especially the males, to severe beatings.
Unfortunately, the molestation was extended to three teachers of Adiewoso M/A Basic School, including the headteacher and the husband of one of the female teachers in the school, who had gone there to visit his wife.
This was after the teachers had told the military men that they were not part of the “galamseyers” by showing their GNAT membership identity cards to them.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi