A NEWLY TRAINED TEACHER? PLEASE READ THIS.

EXCERPTS OF THE GUIDELINES FOR THE POSTING OF NEWLY-TRAINED DIPLOMA IN BASIC EDUCATION TEACHERS FROM COLLEGES OF EDUCATION—SEPTEMBER, 2012.

According to the Ghana Education Service (GES), a total of eight thousand seven hundred and thirty-two (8,732) final year teacher-trainees will be graduating from the 38 Colleges of Education across the country this year.

These newly-trained teachers should be posted first and foremost to fill actual vacancies in deprived and underserved schools. Where a district has been split into two, the Mother District should give priority to the newly-created school in the allocation of teachers.

The allocation of teachers must specify the number of teachers allocated to both District Assembly Schools and Educational Unit Schools in each district. The total allocation to each district should embody the educational units’ allocation for sponsored and non-sponsored newly-trained teachers.

Returns of the list of newly-trained teachers allocated to the Regions should be sent to GES Headquarters by the end of July 2012 to enable the IPPD unit to transfer their Allowances to the District Offices by September 2012. The last original pay slips should be attached to the returns to be forwarded to GES IPPD unit in Accra.

District Directors are not to wait for all newly recruited teachers’ forms to be assembled before processing and forwarding them to Headquarters in Accra. The forms should be completed and forwarded as and when the teachers report at the schools on first appointment.

The IPPD and employment forms for newly-trained teachers must be sent to Accra in bulk by the end of September 2012 to avoid the ‘perennial’ delays in the processing of documents for the initial payment of their salaries. Newly-trained teachers should attach their last original pay slips to the Posting Forms.

District Directors of Education, in collaboration with District Assemblies, are encouraged to publicize their districts to attract and retain teachers.

District Directors and Head teachers should observe and adhere to the recommendations made on the posting forms by Principals of Colleges of Education on newly-trained teachers by placing them appropriately and suitably for effective teaching to take place, with regard to their areas of specialization.

Newly-trained teachers who fail to take up appointments by the end of October 2012 should be treated as having vacated post and consequently, sanctions on vacation of post must be applied.

The IPPD unit should be informed of such cases of vacation by the end of November 2012 so as to suspend the individual’s salary.

Regional and District Directors of Education should not take on additional teachers who were not allocated to them by Headquarters and Regional Directorates respectively in the first place for posting.

PREPARED BY:

SALARIES, TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF SERVICE DEPARTMENT.

The National Executive of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), at a meeting in Accra from 22^nd to 25^th April 2012, resolved that;

The Ghana Education Service (GES) should embark on a vigorous campaign to sensitize and educate its employees on the implementation of the Education Act 2008 (Act 778)

Under the Act, the following bodies, among others, have been established; the National Inspectorate Board, the National Teaching Council and the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment.

 Besides, District Assemblies have been charged with the responsibility for the provision and management of Pre-Tertiary Education in the country. 

The National Executive views  this as a new arrangement that has to be properly explained to teachers, spelling out its impact on education delivery.

That, there should be a clear road-map drawn with regard to the transition from the status quo to the new legal and administrative framework for the management of pre-tertiary education.

The National Executive also expressed its disappointment at the way the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and the Controller and Accountant General’s Department continue to treat teachers in terms of the payment of arrears, placement of teachers on correct grades and non-payment of salaries of some newly recruited teachers since 2010, among others.

Consequently, it calls on Government to take immediate steps to rectify such anomalies.

The National Executive viewed the use of intemperate language on the political landscape as dangerous and a recipe for chaos as the country inches towards the December 7, 2012 parliamentary and presidential elections.

“The citizens of this country need peace before, during and after the elections to ensure that our democratic credentials are not tainted in the eyes of the international community”, the National Executive stressed.

 Mr. Samuel Doe Alobuia

Ag. National President

Dated: 24^th April, 2012

 PRESS RELEASE

The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) registers its utmost displeasure at the way and manner the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD) has been handling personnel emoluments of the Ghana Education Service (GES) staff of late.

 Offices of the headquarters of the GNAT have been inundated with calls since the end of February, 2012 from our teachers all over the country complaining bitterly about non-payment of salary, reduction in salary and non-payment of salary arrears, just to mention a few.

 The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) is deeply worried about the fact that since the inception of the Single Spine Regime in the Ghana Education Service, employees in the Service have known no peace.  No month passes without incident.

 “If what is happening is not due to systems failure, then it may be attributed to some people’s lack of understanding of the role wages and salaries play in National Security”.

 Another area of concern to the GNAT is the Controller and Accountant-General’s inability to provide pay slips to GES employees to know the amounts they have been credited with before the end of each month.  “Our teachers need to know the actual amount they have been credited with before getting to their banks to collect their salaries”.

The GNAT finds it unacceptable the fact that the Controller and Accountant-General, for the past two months, has not been able to provide pay slips to GES employees to assuage some of the anxieties that have accompanied salary and arrears payment in the Service.

 All attempts the GNAT has made to get explanations to this situation from CAGD have proved futile as officials at the Controller’s outfit remain tight-lipped over what is happening and expects the Unions rather to explain the Pay Master’s difficulties to their members, a function which should be performed by their Public Relations outfit.

 The GNAT holds the view that, with proper supervision by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department will provide better service to government employees in the area of pay administration.

 The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) proposes that, if what we are experiencing cannot be corrected immediately, then the obvious solution lies in the privatization of the preparation of the pay roll function to a different institution to save GES employees from the monthly traumas they have to go through.

 “We don’t want education workers to go on the streets before institutions sit up to perform their assigned roles.  People at the helm of affairs should be proactive enough to ensure industrial peace”.

 PETER KORDA

PUBIC RELATIONS OFFICER

For: General Secretary

1.0            INTRODUCTION

Following the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure and   the payment of Salary Arrears in the Ghana Education Service

GHANA NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF TEACHERS

COMMUNIQUE

OUR REF: 0691/Vol.IV/141/12                                      Date: March 13, 2012

YOUR REF:

The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT)