The Ghana Education Service Council is asking graduate teachers (NAGRAT) to concede that their recently ended strike was wrong and apologize as a condition for the release of their October salaries.

The Council is also asking NAGRAT to apologize particularly to President Kufuor whose appeal to call off the strike and return to the classroom they did not heed, as well as parents who have had to pay exorbitant fees for extra classes for their wards as a result of NAGRAT’s two months long strike.

The graduate teachers are also being asked to come up with a structured programme to make up for the time lost whilst they were on strike.

The GES Council withheld the October salaries of the teachers for their industrial action, which started on September 1.

However NAGRAT President, Kwame Alorvi says the Association owes no apologies to anyone because the reasons for the industrial action were genuine and legitimate even though their demands had not been met.

He told Joy News that steps had already been taken in the schools to make up for the lost time.

“The strike was not the cause of extra tuition. Before the strike started parents on their own accord were approaching teachers to pay fees for them to teach their children at extra classes.”

He said the association would not apologise to anybody and if the GES Council would seize their October salaries the Council could go ahead and take it.

Alorvi said many groups returned from strike to receive their salaries and were also not asked to apologise to anybody and did not see why it should be different in the case of teachers.