Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare, has called for dialogue as a viable means to solving the ongoing impasse between teacher unions and the government.

According to him, if a resolution is not reached to end ongoing strikes in the sector as well as prevent those threatening to go on strike, it will adversely affect the reset of the academic calendar.

He explained that while the industrial actions do not in any way support the course of government to reset the academic calendar back to pre-Covid times, they bring to fore teething problems within the sector that must be put to bed once and for all.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, Kofi Asare said, “I have a challenge because we are working hard to realign our academic calendar after the disruptions of Covid. So the least one would expect will be any disruptions to that academic calendar. Unfortunately, we are having strikes.

“So it is my expectation that we will open spaces for social dialogue and encourage more engagement between the employer and then the employees so that we prevent such industrial actions because it doesn’t in any way help the course of government as government struggles to reset our academic year to the September/August calendar.”

He added, “I must admit that the good thing about what is happening is that about 90% of them are not new. They are existing issues which have not been resolved from the tertiary level up to the pre-tertiary level. And so I believe that ones the existing issues have not been able to be resolved, it is possible to have a negotiated win-win out of this situation.”

He further expressed optimism that with the eagerness of the Teacher Unions to dialogue, it shows a win-win resolution can be reached sooner rather than later.

“I’m also happy that the teacher unions at all levels have agreed to dialogue and negotiate their way out of this strike. And so I have the firm belief that genuinely they believe that this situation can be resolved through dialogue with the employer. And so all we can do as stakeholders is to support the process of negotiation and hope that both parties come out with a win-win in the interest of education in Ghana,’ he said.

Three striking Teacher Unions have resolved to continue their ongoing industrial action after an inconclusive meeting with the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations. 

The leadership of the Unions – the National Association of Graduate Teachers, Ghana National Association of Teachers and Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana- declared a strike on Friday, November 4, 2022. 

The industrial action comes after the expiration of an ultimatum the Unions gave government to rescind its decision on the appointment of Dr Eric Nkansah, the new Director-General of the Ghana Education Service. 

Following the ultimatum, the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations called the Unions to a meeting on notice of the strike on Friday, November 04, 2022. 

The meeting was inconclusive and was thus rescheduled to Monday, November 07, 2022. 

Meanwhile, two major staff associations at the 46 colleges of education across the country, Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG) and the Colleges of Education Non-Teaching Staff Association of Ghana (CENTSAG), have threatened to lay down their tools if government does not prioritize their welfare.

They claim to be disappointed at “the way Government has handled issues affecting the welfare of our members in the colleges of education over the years.”

CETAG and CENTSAG insist that “by Friday, 11th November, 2022 if our demands have not
been met, we shall reactivate our indefinite strike actions which we suspended on January 24 and
April 14, 2022 respectively.”