Academic activities have been halted in most schools in the Tamale metropolis due to an indefinite strike by some four teachers’ unions over the government’s failure to pay their Cost Of Living Allowance (COLA).
The Teacher Unions namely the Ghana National Association of Teachers, (GNAT) National Association of Graduate Teachers, (NAGRAT) Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana (CCT-GH), and the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) have declared an indefinite strike across the country.
A visit by DGN Online to some schools in the Tamale metropolis showed some school blocks locked with no pupils while other schools which were opened had a single teacher in school.
When DGN Online visited the Bishops Primary School in Tamale at 10:30 am, July 5, 2022, the school had been closed as no pupils were found on the compound.
Alhassan Elham, a final year student of the Bishops RC Junior High School, told DGN Online that the strike has greatly affected the school, especially the final year students, and appealed to the government to ensure the concerns of their teachers are addressed for academic activities to resume.
“ We are now candidates and we need the teachers’ attention to teach us but the strike has come to affect us simply because the government has refused to pay our teachers and if our teachers go on strike it will affect our performance so we pleading with the government to give our teachers what they need do that they can come back to school.”
The Northern Regional Chairman of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Abdulai Seidu Gong told DGN Online that teachers will only go back to school if the government addresses their demands.
He, however, advised parents not to send their children to school because no teacher will be available to monitor or supervise them.
“ Right now the pupils are not in our hands because we are on strike and for that matter, no parent should even allow their children to go to school because there will be no teacher to monitor or supervise the children.”
FROM Eric Kombat, Tamale