The National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) has raised concerns over what they describe as the maltreatment of professional teachers in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).

According to NAGRAT, the establishment of TVET by the Ghana Education Service (GES) has created numerous challenges for professional teachers who were teaching in technical schools that have been converted into TVET institutions.

In a statement signed by the association's President, Angel Carbonu, the association criticised the Ministry of Education for failing to provide a transitional period that would allow teachers to choose whether to remain with the GES or transfer to TVET.

“One surprising thing is that the management of TVET has come out with a Scheme of Service for teachers in TVET without discussions with the representatives of the teachers. One wonders what the hidden motive of the management of TVET is, in developing a scheme without the representatives of the unions the teachers belong to. 

“We will want to remind the management of TVET that the schools they are superintending over today were not built anew and that there were teachers teaching Technical Vocation subjects before TVET Service was created and that these teachers belonged to unions as a matter of right,” part of the statement read.

NAGRAT further said that it is unacceptable to transfer teachers from the GES to TVET without their consent, and criticised the removal of teachers' names from their respective unions.

“If the management of TVET does not want to regard its teachers as professional educationists, it is up to them. Some teachers who were on study leave from the GES have had their names taken off the payroll since both GES and the TVET Service could not account for them. 

“We give the Ministry of Education up to the 30th of September 2024 to address these challenges of our teachers in the TVET schools and also to come out with a transition timetable. Option should be given to teachers to opt for which service they want to belong,” NAGRAT said.

The association also demanded that union representatives begin negotiations on all aspects of service conditions for their members working with TVET, in accordance with labour law.

“If these processes are not set in motion by the 30th of September 2024, the union has no other option than to embark on an industrial action in solidarity with our members working with TVET,” they added.

Read the full statement below.