The Executive Secretary of the Institute for Education Studies (IFEST-Ghana), Dr Peter Anti Partey is questioning why duty-bearers wait till push comes to shove before taking appropriate action on the plights of teachers.

According to him, the demands these teachers are making are not particularly challenging, and they wouldn't resort to striking if their salaries were released on time due to a system error.

He claimed that although the teachers' decision to go on strike might be seen as illegal by the book, it was the only recourse for authorities to take action.

The educationist said this in an interview with JoyNews on March 27.

“Well, by the books this could be classified as an illegality, but what were they expecting them to do? A number of teachers have their pay released to them and the teachers have complained. The only way that they have been able to address this is by embarking on this so-called illegality, so for me sometimes I feel that it is not so much about the rules but is about how we respond to them, and I think that if they did not go on this tangent these two issues which I think are not bigger issues enough to call for a strike, will not have been resolved,” he said.

“Why should it take a strike action for the teachers to receive their laptops, why should it be so?” he questioned.

He pointed out that the organisation tasked with distributing laptops to the teachers had been lax in their responsibilities until a strike was announced, leading them to establish a deadline.

He stressed that the reason many workers' unions resort to strikes is because authorities fail to act promptly when needed, prompting the need for such action to spur them into action.

“And that is why most workers' unions will embark on strike because it is only while they go on strike or undertake these actions that the authorities listen to them and take action, so we continue to experience this illegality till our leaders are a little bit proactive and responsive to the challenges and needs of unions when they bring them up.”