The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has expressed dissatisfaction with the pace at which the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) is carrying out salary negotiations with Organized Labour.

“Consequently, the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) wishes to call on the FWSC to expedite action on the standardization of allowances in order to pave way for specified allowances for teachers to be negotiated,” the association said.

The concerns of members of GNAT were expressed by its Acting National President, Samuel Doe Alobuia during an interaction with teachers in the Sunyani Municipality as part of a tour by the leadership of the association to the region.

Mr Alobuia pointed out that “the undue delay is affecting the morale of Ghanaian teachers and that pupils in underserved areas of the country cannot wait because they also deserve to have motivated teachers to teach them as we inch towards meeting the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of Education for all by year 2015.”

He assured teachers that GNAT was championing the payment of category 2 and 3 allowances to public sector workers in the country.

“In this connection, the Association has been holding meetings with the Ministry of Education, the Ghana Education Service, the Controller and Accountant-General and the FWSC to find ways of speeding up the payment of such allowances to public sector workers, not excluding teachers,” he indicated.

He hinted that newly-recruited teachers, who have not been paid since 2010, will receive their salaries at the end of this month based on an MOU the association signed with the relevant government institutions.

The acting GNAT president also assured teachers, who have been promoted to various grades in the service, that they will be captured by the Controller and Accountant-General on the April payroll.

“It was also agreed that all outstanding issues related to the conditions of employment of teachers, including delayed promotion and payment of T&T and Transfer Grants would be addressed by the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Ministry of Education,” he mentioned.

Mr. Alobuia urged the Education Ministry to delegate the implementation of the policy on distance learning to tertiary institutions involved in the programmes. “GNAT expects the co-ordinating role of the Ministry of Education to include fixing of tuition fees, production of modules and monitoring and evaluation through such agencies as the National Accreditation Board,” he stated.

All national officers of GNAT, including the General Secretary, Irene Duncan-Adanusa toured the region.