Professor Emeritus of the Ashesi University, Stephen Adei says teachers must be ready to forgo 50% of their salaries if they want to continue staying at home.

The outbreak of Covid-19 in Ghana has resulted in the closure of schools to curb the spread of the disease and teachers have been at home since March.

Speaking on Joy News’ Upfront with Winston Amoah, the Educationist stated that aside the teachers writing a letter to protest the imminent reopening of schools, they should have made some positive contributions on how to protect teachers and students and a reduction in their salaries.

According to him, public workers are not entitled to their salaries when they are not working.

“[Being] a public worker does not mean that whether you work or not you are entitled to your pay. We must have the teachers when we reopen. But I expect some positive contributions.

“And you just go and tell the government ‘oh, don’t open schools, let us stay at home’ and then you say nothing about your salary or what we should do and the protocols towards reopening. Nothing, nothing about your salary, you’re going to stay at home. This is a sign of irresponsibility,” he said.

Several civil organizations have condemned a letter from GES suggesting that the body has launched a stakeholder consultation to provide President Akufo-Addo with measures to be taken ahead of a possible reopening of schools.

Among them is the National Council of Parent-Teacher Associations who has called on government to postpone talks on the reopening of schools.

According to them, it is too early for government to be thinking about reopening schools at a time where the recorded cases of Covid-19 are rising steadily.

However, Prof Adei says teachers should be willing and ready to forgo at least 50% of their salaries while they sit at home, as their inactivity does not merit a full salary.