GNAT Calls For Salary Negotiations

The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has called on government to open salary negotiations for its members for 2008 pending the implementation of the proposed single spine salary structure. Mr. Joseph Adjei, President of the Association made the call when the leadership of the Association met teachers from the Ho Municipal, South-Dayi and Adaklu-Anyigbe districts last Friday to discuss issues affecting teachers. He also urged government to support teachers who are currently engaged in distance education and that there was an urgent need for all stakeholders to meet to address the problems affecting the teaching profession in the country. He said more resources were required towards the successful implementation of the education reforms. Mr Adjei observed that the peace in the country was phenomenal but there was the need to consolidate it further by urgently addressing the conditions of the "suffering masses". Mrs. Irene Duncan-Adanusa, General Secretary of the Association observed that teaching was the surest way to a successful life if teachers planned well and took advantage of several opportunities open to them. "If I should die and come back to the world, I would still be a teacher", she said. Mrs Duncan-Adanusa therefore urged teachers, especially the young ones to be focused on what they would want to achieve in life and work assiduously towards those goals from now without having to travel abroad to become successful. She said knowledge in Information Communication Technology (ICT) has become a must for teachers in modern phase of teaching and self-improvement without which one becomes stranded in career development.