It will cost government more money if the closing time for basic public school in the country is extended, the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has said.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh has complained about the closing time within Ghana schools and has called for an extension of the normal 2pm closing time to 4pm.
“School closes too early in this country. At 2:00pm, parents from farms are not back and parents working at the public service are not back from work, so why can’t schools close at 4:00 pm,” he posited at the National Education Sector Review forum held in Accra recently.
The Minister also said the time was not favourable for working parents and guardians and also complained about the standard of education in the country.
But speaking on Eyewitness News on Thursday, the General Secretary of GNAT, David Ofori Acheampong said they have not received any official proposal from the Ministry to that effect.
He also suggested that government should engage the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission on the issue to ensure that allowances of teachers are increased to reflect the new closing period if approved.
“…If today government thinks they would need to extend the programme, it is a simple, let them table it before the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission because it comes with financial burden on government. They have the responsibility to commit government to pay for extra duty with allowances and we will sit down and talk. When we discuss and they agree to pay us so much for additional two hours of our service we have no problem. So all these noise about us doing this or that, government has not tabled it before us,” he added.
Mr. Acheampong noted that currently, “the agreement we work with is that basic schools must do nine periods, JHS must do ten periods, SHS must do eight periods, differentials thirty or forty minutes with five minutes intervals as interchange into the next period.”
“We do not prescribe the curriculum for education in Ghana. It is prescribed by the research department of the Ghana Education Service and they allot the time for the various categories of teachers to teach…And we are supposed to do our work within that period and it is enshrined in our collective agreement with government,” he added.
Source: citifmonline.com
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I disagree any financial demand of GNAT, its pointless, every employee of Government closes work at 5:00 pm, including the universities. Government workers are also parents, so Mr Ofori's logic to open discussion with FWSC is untenable please. Napo watch out before GNAT throws dust in your eyes
This extension of time is good if its only geared into sporting club activities in schools as its done in Japanese schools.This will go a long way to promote sports in the country. it should not be only studying in classrooms.
@KKD. PSE CAN'T YOU MAKE YOUR POINT WITHOUT INSULTING SOMEONE??? IF YOU DISAGREE WITH THE MINISTER, STATE YOUR CASE AND ARGUE IT OUT. DON'T INSULT AGAIN WAAI. I KNOW YOU WERE PROPERLY BROUGHT UP SO YOU'LL HEED MY ADVICE. THANKS.
WE ALL WORK FOR 8HRS.HOW COME TEACHERS ARE DOING ONLY 6HRS. IA A HIGH TIME PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT IS IMPLEMENTED IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR.
@Keane Peter. Nobody asked you not to into teaching. You want big money so you chose other field instead. Teachers also have children to look at at homer. Teachers take no allowance o. The ssss . Go to the other sectors and crosscheck the allowances paid to them. We live in a country where even a cleaner at Cocobod takes higher net salary than a graduate teacher yet we have people who have the gust to complain about a teacher asking for extra pay for increasing working hours . Are teachers babysitters?
THE SECRETARY IS ONLY THINKING OF HIS POCKET BEEN FULL BUT FORGOT ABOUT THE HUSTLE AND THE NEGATIVE IMPLICATIONS THE CHILDREN WILL GO THROUGH.IT IS NOT A GOOD PROPOSAL PERIOD.A CHILD IN ACCRA OR KUMASI WITH ALL THESE TRAFFIC JAM WILL CLOSE AT 4PM FROM SCHOOL AND GET HOME AT WHAT TIME TO DO HIS OR HER HOME WORK,LEARN HOME SENSE AND OTHERS. THE MINISTER LACKS COMMON SENSE.YOU HAVE YOUR CHILDREN OUTSIDE THE COUNTRY SO YOU TALK NONESENSE ABI?
Some of your colleagues sit in the staff room all day doing nothing not even research, others do not go to school at all because they do not have any lessons. You have 3 vacations within a year (No public service workers gon on leave for that long) yet you want to be paid more for teaching within working hours. Are you aware your fellow workers in other public sectors close at five, i.e work forty hour a week. You only have a cause to ask for extra money should it be established you work beyond 40 hours a week.