Teachers in the Tamale Metropolis have threatened to desert the classrooms should the government fail to settle their unpaid salary arrears by the end of October. The over 200 professional teachers staged a demonstration Thursday morning to press home their demand where they issued the ultimatum. Alhassan Mohammed Soawii, President of the Tamale Metropolis Unpaid Teachers Association, stated in a petition to the Northern Regional Coordinating Council that the aggrieved teachers have not been paid for several months. "Our arrears have not yet been paid since 2010 despite the notifications we have sent to some of the stakeholders concerned. For this reason, we are calling on the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Controller and Accountant General (CAG) to facilitate the payment of our arrears without further delay. If this is not met at the end of October, 2011, we will not hesitate to lay down our tools." Below is the content of their petition THE UNDUE DELAY OF SALARY ARREARS AND UPGRADING ONTO THE RIGHT SALARY SCALE We, the undersigned, would like to draw your attention to the following problems confronting the 2010 –year group of teachers with some suggested recommendations. 1. Our arrears have not yet been paid since 2010 despite the notifications we have sent to some of the stakeholders concerned. For this reason, we are calling on the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Controller and Accountant General (CAG) to facilitate the payment of our arrears without further delay. If this is not met at the end of October, 2011, we will not hesitate to lay down our tools. 2. We are reliably informed that some districts most especially, Tolon Kumbungu and Central Gonja Districts have not submitted the Integrated Public payroll Data (IPPD) forms for processing. We are therefore urging the Northern Regional Director of Education to intervene. 3. It should be strongly noted that we would not accept the payment of our salary arrears either in batches or in installments since this would worsen the suffering that we have already endured. 4. We would like to notify the stakeholders involved in the upgrading, to take into consideration our September, 2010 incremental date by placing us on the appropriate Step than the initial step. Our recommendations are as follows: The Ministry of Education (MOE) and GES should ensure that newly posted teachers are paid their salaries early in order to forestall the problems that we are encountering. Communication should be effective between the authorities in education and teachers regarding their salaries and other relevant issues. This is to avert the practice of teachers resorting to demonstrations, which affect effective teaching and learning. We are therefore calling on the government through the Northern Regional Minister to listen to our plight and come to our aid by facilitating the payment of our salary arrears to help us deliver on our mandate as teachers without difficulties. Signed: Alhassan Mohammed Soawii (President of the Tamale Metropolis Unpaid Teachers Association)