Bolgatanga GNAT holds congress

Bolgatanga, April 29, GNA - The Second Quadrennial District Delegates Congress of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) ended in Bolgatanga on Wednesday under the theme "Motivation of the Teacher: The Surest Way to High Standards of Education in Ghana." Fifty-three delegates drawn from local GNAT officials as well as representatives from the Bolgatanga and Talensi-Nabdam District Directorates of Education attended it.

Miss Amina Issa, Assistant Director of Education in charge of Guidance and Counselling in the Bolgatanga Municipality, said successive governments sought to improve the country's education system but had paid little or no attention to teachers who are the implementers of education policies.

''As long as teachers are poorly motivated they will continue to drift to other areas of activity where they will earn better wages.''

Miss Issah called for towards an adequate incentive package to attract and retain high quality personnel in the education sector. "Remuneration should not only be sensitive to skills but also to the rate of inflation so as to avoid absenteeism and low morale among teachers in our schools," she said.

Resolutions reached at the conference included the establishment of a credit union to save teachers from exploitative moneylenders. The conference called for the introduction of an incentive package that should include a housing scheme and the provision of means of transport for teachers.

It suggested that the SSNIT students' loan scheme is extended to teachers on Distance Education Programmes in tertiary institutions and that teachers be paid extra duty allowance.