The Tema District Office of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has advised parents to keep their children at home as the strike of the three teachers’ unions lingers on.
The teacher unions, GNAT, Coalition of Concerned Teachers, and National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), declared a nationwide strike over the appointment of Dr Eric Nkansah as the Director-General of Education.
The strike is to back their demands for the government to revoke the appointment of Mr Nkansah, whom the unions said was a banker and has no teaching background to occupy such a position.
Mr Abednego Tettey Nuertey, Chairman of GNAT, Tema District told the Ghana News Agency in Tema that instead of releasing children to school while the teachers were on strike, it was better for parents to keep them home to ensure their safety.
He said currently, the children were left in the hands of the head teachers alone, a situation he described as very risky.
Meanwhile, when the Ghana News Agency visited some public schools in the Tema Metropolis, it noticed that the teachers were either not around or were there but not teaching, leaving the children to be on their own.
Regina Lomikie Teye, a class six pupil of the T.I. Ahmadiyya Basic School, who together with her friends, was spotted going home at about 1100 hours, said even though some of their teachers reported to school they left early without teaching.
“We were in school but were not taught, so we used the time playing after which we decided to go home and come back tomorrow instead of being in the school without learning,” she said.
The situation at the Padmore Street Basic School was a little different, as pupils were taking their ‘School Feeding’ food at the time of the visit with some teachers present.
At the Oninku Drive Primary School, and Mante Din Basic School, all the classroom doors were locked with a few of the pupils loitering on the compound chatting, while others were playing football, food vendors were sitting idling as there were no pupils to patronize their wares.
Priscilla and Vitoria, both Form two pupils of Mante Din School, said even though on a normal day they close at 1500 hours, the head teacher, the only one who reported to school closed them at 1200hours due to the absence of the teachers.
The pupils said they were hopeful that their teachers would return to the classroom on Wednesday for teaching to resume.