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Teachers in Chemu Senior High School in Tema are up in arms against the Headmistress of the institution, Ms Felicia Assimeng-Kore over what they described as negligence of duty leading to the suspension of the salaries of over a hundred teaching and non-teaching staff.

The educational institution was thrown into a state of pandemonium on Monday February 29 when the teachers got wind of the fact that their salaries for February had not been paid while that of other public sector workers across the country had been paid by the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD).

Teachers were seen in the morning in groups discussing the issue trying to figure out what may have caused the problem for the suspension of their salaries.

The development has affected morale of the teachers as some of them spent a greater portion of the school hours strategizing how they were going to survive under the present harsh economic conditions as well as perform roles expected of them.

Ms Assimeng-Kore, in sensing danger quickly organized an emergency staff meeting which she took advantage to explain the matter to the teachers and find an amicable way of containing it in order not to disrupt academic work in the school.

Present at the meeting included the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) Secretary for the Tema Metropolis as well as the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Database (IPPD) Coordinator for the Tema Metro Education Office.

The Headmistress, try as she did to explain the issue failed to convince the aggrieved teachers who needed nothing but their salaries.

Hell however broke loose when the teachers were told by the GNAT representative that the teachers would get their February salary at the end of March if they worked around the clock to get some documentation forwarded early enough to the CAGD.

Deep throat sources told News Ghana the Headmistress deliberately failed to complete her portion of the validation forms early enough for the CAGD to effect payment.

It was confirmed she did the same thing in the month of January by refusing to complete her portion of the validation form even though the school administrator completed hers.

The angry teachers are therefore calling on the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service (GES) to transfer the head from the school immediately, else she would collapse the school through her negligence and incompetence.

Some teachers who preferred to speak on anonymity told this reporter that Ms Assimeng-Kore had taken it upon herself to victimize anyone who spoke against her administration.

“Chemu used to be a very good school in terms of academics but ever since this woman was made the head, academic standards keeps falling year after year. She is running the school as if it is her private property. I think it is time the GES moved her out of this place,” one teacher emphasized.

Another one said, “I am appealing to President John Dramani Mahama to intervene in this matter because officials in the ministry and GES who are supposed to deal with this woman are shielding her as a result of which she can do anything that she wants. She doesn’t have respect for any teacher in this school.”

As at the time of filing this report, a letter written by the school addressed to the CAGD signed by the Headmistress and the Metro GES Director for Education was being sent to Accra to see if anything could be done for the salaries to be paid.

It would be recalled that Chemu Senior High School was engulfed in payroll fraud as well as other allegations last year in which Ms Assimeng-Kore was heavily fingered.

The Ministry of Education, GES and the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) took the matter but were yet to come up with the full facts. Enditem.