CETAG strike traumatising - Trainee Teachers

Students of the various colleges of education across the country, especially in the Volta Region, say they are traumatised by the strike of the Colleges of Education Teachers’ Association of Ghana (CETAG).

CETAG on Monday September 12, 2016, declared an indefinite strike to protest against the failure of government to migrate the tutors to tertiary status which would have translated into an increase in their remuneration.

CETAG National Secretary Prince Obeng-Himah told journalists that although colleges of education were classified as tertiary institutions, the rank of the tutors was yet to reflect this change in the college's status.

He maintained that CETAG members were prepared to stay away from their duties till such a time when the government addresses their grievances.

“We are going on strike because government and our employers have reneged on their promise to do what is expected of them regarding the Colleges of Education Act, which says that when you are tutor and you are operating in a tertiary dispensation, your rank should change,” he said.

But speaking in an interview with Chief Jerry Forson, host of Ghana Yensom on Accra100.5FM on Monday, September 19, Mr Larry Agbador, president of the Volta regional branch of the association, said the students felt they were being used as scapegoats by the tutors in the development.

According to him, most students were leaving school for home, in view of the fact that there were no teachers on the campuses of the various colleges of education to teach them, a situation which had resulted in most of them becoming “traumatised”.

“What is happening is more like a psychological trauma we are going through as teacher trainees,” he told show host Jerry Forson.

“In a way, we teacher trainees are being used as scapegoats in this circumstance. All these things that we are going through are really taking us through a lot. Students have reported on campus since last Monday and for a whole week, no lecturer. As we speak now, in most of the colleges, students are going back home.

“We as teachers who are under training are seeing this as threats to us because if the government in a way is treating our teachers this way, then it means teaching is going to be very difficult to us in the future so we are appealing to the government to heed the request of our teachers so that they will get back to class as soon as possible.”