Pay 9,615 pupil teachers now

An Accra High Court has ordered the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Attorney-General to calculate and pay in full, the severance and end-of-service benefits of 9,615 pupil teachers who were redeployed by the GES between 1988 and 1998.

The court, presided over by His Lordship, Justice Victor Ofoe, also ruled that the teachers should be given interest on any amount due them at the current bank rate, from the date each of them was redeployed to date. Four executive members of the Redeployed Pupil Teachers Association (RPTA) who initiated the court action and also represented the 9,615 redeployed teachers, were awarded cost of ?1 million each.

In their writ of summons, the teachers contended that the failure of the GES to pay them their end-of-service and severance entitlements was discriminatory, unjust, unfair and against Article 17 of the 1992 Constitution. They also asserted that by their contract of employment as pupil teachers, they were not casual workers as the GES claimed and, therefore, demanded that interest on all sums of money due and payable to them should be paid at current bank rates.

According to the teachers, pupil teachers are defined by the GES as non-certificate teachers, that is, teachers without recognised professional teaching certificates.

There is another group known as craft inspectors. They have the same entry requirements, contract of employment and service conditions as pupil teachers. They explained that while craft inspectors teach one subject, pupil teachers teach between five and 10 subjects. The aggrieved teachers said they were engaged between 1965 and 1989, enjoyed leave allowance, contributed to the Social Security fund and were members of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) membership.

They said in or about 1987, the Ghana Education Service embarked on a restructuring exercise where non-permanent staff, unskilled staff, non-certificate staff etc, were redeployed from the GES and the Public Services of Ghana, which affected them. The teachers claimed that after the termination, some other unskilled, non-permanent staff and craft inspectors who were all employed by the GES were paid their benefits but they were left out. They, therefore, went to court to seek redress.

The case of the GES was that pupil teachers are not established or permanent workers and that their appointments are temporary. According to the service, when the teachers’ appointments came to an end they were entitled to social security benefits which are payable if the teachers applied to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT).

A break down of the affected teachers on Regional basis are: Ashanti, 1,799; Greater Accra, 232; Central, 1,109; Upper West, 76; and Brong Ahafo, 735. The rest are: Western, 743; Northern, 585; Easter, 1,188; Upper East, 463 and Volta, 1,142. Justice Ofoe, in his ruling, said the teachers by their evidence clearly established that they, as pupil teachers, were entitled to severance and end-of-service benefits just as their entitlements, and therefore ordered the GES and the Attorney-General to compute and pay all moneys due them.