Mr John Nyoagbe, Deputy General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has called on the government to arrange a package for the category of disadvantage public servants including teachers who do not benefit from the three-tier pension schemes. He said the white paper published on the pension commission report failed to address the disparity on teachers under the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) pension with less than five years to retire and called for a scheme to address the fall out. Mr Nyoagbe said this at the end of a five-day in-service training workshop for 196 Heads and teachers of English, Mathematics, Science, Pre-Technical and French in the basic and second cycle schools in the Volta Region at Hohoe. It was organized by GNAT under the auspices of the Canadian Teachers Federation (CTF) aimed at providing the opportunity to bridge the knowledge gap in related subject areas and explore other teaching, leadership and management strategies that would enhance the teaching profession. Mr Nyoagbe also called on the new Minister of Public Sector Reform to appraise himself with the on-going job analysis exercise under the Fair Wages Commission Law and vigorously pursue its evaluation, grading and pay reforms to its logical end, since the expectations of public servants have soared. He requested the Ghana Education Service (GES), the Ministry of Finance and the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department to devise a practical scheme whereby new posted teachers would be upgraded to their actual salary levels within two months, instead of the over 18 months of waiting and frustration for their first salary. The Deputy General Secretary entreated the Ministry of Education, Sports and Science (MOESS) to urgently fulfill their pledge to support teachers offering Diploma in Basic Education courses, the Untrained Teachers Diploma in Basic Education (UTDBE) and Diploma in Basic Education Sandwich (TopUp) programmes. Mr Nyoagbe said GNAT would continue to do its best towards professional development in readiness of the new reforms and advised the GES to implement the well structured in service programme that had been on the drawing board for many years now. Mr Kofi Dzamesi, Volta Regional Minister said the training workshop was opportune, appropriate and timely as standards continue to dip. He was grateful that the course content was tailored in line with government’s education policies and programmes and appealed to GNAT and teachers to acquaint themselves with the new reforms for a successful implementation. Madam Jan Walsh Hobert, Leader of the CTF delegation said GNAT/CTF collaboration which existed since the mid 1960 sought to empower teachers especially female ones with leadership administrative and practical teaching methodologies to make instruction in English, Maths and Science easy to teach and learn. Mrs Olivia Sosu, Volta Regional Director of Education suggested the construction of resource centres for teachers and a further decentralization of the training regime through the district level. He called for a sustained collaboration among GNAT, GES and stakeholders in the education industry. Source: GNA