The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has called on the Ghana Education Service (GES) to convene a national stakeholders' conference to dispassionately discuss the issue of extra classes in schools and at home. The association contends that the issue is controversial and thorny and no single sector must determine its appropriateness or otherwise. The Deputy General Secretary of the GNAT, James Agyemang Fokuoh, speaking to the Times in Accra yesterday said the proposal was the association’s position on the call by the Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tettey Enyo for the abolition of extra classes for students both in schools and at home. The Minister had argued that the practice put too much pressure on both students and parents. But Mr Fokuoh said the government, schools, teachers and students as key stakeholders should dispassionately discuss the issue and iron out the rough edges. “'In our opinion, the GES has the clout to facilitate this all important conference," he stated, and warned that if a unilateral decision was taken to abolish the practice, teachers could rebel, not openly, but in other ways which would ultimately affect education in general. "We have all committed ourselves to promoting quality education and all these stakeholders are very necessary to bring about that quality," he added. Mr Fokuoh said even with the implementation of the Capitation Grant which had resulted in increased student population, the poor remuneration and conditions of service for teachers as well as the lack of adequate libraries and laboratories, among other concerns, made it necessary for a comprehensive look to be taken at these issues. “There is no single answer to this problem and so the stakeholders' conference will create the platform for the various parties to state their positions such that at the end of the day, we will have peace and understanding," he said. Asked for comments on the GNAT’s position, Mr Tettey Enyo agreed that the issue was a national one that should be debated. He drew attention to the fact that it was natural that some people would accept the directive while others would not. "It is time again to regulate the activities of schools in relation to what we call extra classes," he said and recalled that in the 1990s, things reached a head and "we had to provide policy guidelines on this issue. Overtime, supervision became laxed and some schools even went ahead to organise extra classes for pupils in kindergarten. "It is time again the Ministry and the Ghana Education Service provided further guidelines as to what we term as extra classes," he said, adding that criticisms of his directive "will help us to formulate the guidelines for the implementation of programmes of the schools." Source: The Ghanaian Times