Colleges of Education must stay open — GTEC
The Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) has directed all the 46 colleges of education to remain open until further notice.
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The directive comes in the wake of calls from various stakeholders, including the leadership of the affected students, for the colleges to be closed until striking members of the Colleges of Education Teachers' Association of Ghana (CETAG) return to the classroom.
But GTEC, in a statement issued last Friday and addressed to all the principals of public colleges of education, said: “As of today, August 16, 2024, the commission has not reached such a conclusion (to close the schools), neither has it been directed by the Minister of Education to do same”.
The letter, which was signed by the Director-General of GTEC, Prof. Ahmed Jinapor, outlined what the commission had been doing to address the concerns of the aggrieved CETAG members.
Prof. Jinapor stated that so far, the commission had migrated 20 of the public teacher training institutions to the level of the traditional university as of August 16, 2024, and was hopeful it would complete all 46 colleges of education before the end of August.
Indeed, one of the demands of the striking teachers is for them to be migrated to the same level as all traditional universities.
“In addition, the top-up of the research allowance has been paid to 44 colleges of education except McCoy and Dambai, which have some technical issues to be resolved,” the statement said.
“Additionally, the all-year-round payment, which is also an issue of contention, has been initiated on the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) to enable the Ministry of Finance to issue the release letter and specific warrant for payment to be effected as soon as possible,” the letter said.
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It said regarding the payment of salaries for August, “the commission will communicate directives on the subject once same has been received from the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum”.
Call for closure
Last week, the Teacher Trainees Association of Ghana (TTAG) called for the immediate closure of the colleges of education for students to go home and prepare financially and psychologically for a refreshed second semester.
The call, the group said, was as a result of the truncation of the semester following the industrial action embarked upon by CETAG.
"The colleges have less than a month to complete the current second semester that began on June 9, 2024.
"This means that it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to recover the lost contact hours that were caused by this prolonged CETAG strike," the President of the TTAG, Soale Razak, told the Daily Graphic.
He said a recent study conducted by the TTAG had indicated that approximately 80 per cent of teacher trainees had left their respective colleges.
Meetings
Meanwhile, at the instance of the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission is scheduled to meet the leadership of CETAG at 10 a.m. today at the conference room of the ministry.
The meeting is expected to be attended by the Director of Tertiary Education of the Ministry of Education, the Director-General of GTEC, President of CETAG, and the President of the Conference of Principals of Colleges of Education, Ghana (PRINCOF).
On Wednesday, August 14, 2024, a similar meeting was held at the ministry and attended by representatives from the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance, Fair Wages and Salaries Commission and GTEC.