GNAT Chairman lauds Education Minister

The Chairman of the Madina Adentan Abokobi District of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Mr Christian Adinkra, has commended the decision of the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, to set up a union’s desk at the ministry to help address the grievances of the various unions for industrial harmony.

He said that would go a long way to help find solutions to the various issues of teachers before they got out of hands.

“The decision of the minister to set up a union desk at the ministry is laudable and that will ensure industrial harmony on the employer-teachers front,” Mr Adinkra, who is also a National Council member of GNAT said in an interview with the Daily Graphic.

Launch

Launching the 90th anniversary of GNAT, Dr Adutwum announced that a union’s desk would be set up soon at the ministry to provide responses to teachers’ concerns and also deepen dialogue between the unions and the government, as part of measures to transform the educational sector.

“I am setting up the desk in the minister’s office; which means there will be somebody in my office to deal with union matters at any point in time, somebody who will give you daily and weekly updates on what is happening on issues concerning the unions,” the minister said.

Mr Adinkrah said although creating the union’s desk was commendable, the person that would be put in charge should be someone who was ready to work with the unions so as to ensure harmony.

“We have seen a couple of such things where persons put in charge try to make things difficult for others. We hope this one would not be like that,” he said, adding that “if our needs and aspirations are forwarded to the ministry they should be acted upon. It is not everything that would be acted upon immediately but give us an indication to that effect that they would be worked on”.

Benefit

He said the union would make its ideas available on how such a desk could be set up so that it would inure to the benefit of the various stakeholders so as to ensure its smooth operation.

Mr Adinkra, who is re-contesting the chairmanship position of the Madina Adentan Abokobi District on May 19, 2021, said he was coming on board with a leadership that would seek the interests of teachers in the district, regional and national level.