Accra, March 1, GNA - The Ministry of Education (MOE) on Monday said=

the strike action embarked upon by the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) was in bad faith and contravened its agreement with the=

Ministry on embarking on the strike action.

The Ministry said NAGRAT's position to continue with the strike unti= l it received a copy of the letter confirming approval of payment of the arrears by the Ministry of Finance was untenable given that it promised a= t a meeting with the MOE on Friday, February 26, that it would come for the letter on Monday morning.

Mr Paul Kofi Krampa, Head of Public Relations at the MOE, told the Ghana News Agency in Accra that, the MOE had since made available a copy of the approval letter to be given to NAGRAT on Monday morning and could not=

understand why NAGRAT could not honour its promise to come for it. Mr Krampa said the letter was released by the Ministry of Finance af= ter 1700 GMT on Friday, February 26, after which the MOE quickly held a meeti= ng with the NAGRAT to inform it about the release of the arrears.

He said currently, the Ghana Education Service (GES) was finalizing all the necessary administrative procedures to ensure that all outstanding arrears were paid to the affected teachers, beginning from Tuesday, March= 2. A statement by the MOE on Sunday, February 28, said government had released GH¢10 million to the GES (GES) for the payment of all outstand= ing arrears due members of the Service nationwide. The statement said the money covered arrears which included supervision, vehicle maintenance, travel and transport, circuit superviso= rs as well as overtime allowances for drivers and watchmen. Meanwhile, Mr Stanislaus Napome, General Secretary of NAGRAT, told t= he opy of the approval letter.

Mr Napome said the agreement was that the MOE should send the letter= to NAGRAT's office but not the NAGRAT going for it at the Ministry. NAGRAT announced a strike action which took effect from Monday March= 1, to press demands for arrears covering supervision, vehicle maintenance, travel and transport among others. 1 March 10