Government And CETAG Sign MoU As Strike Draws To A Close
- The Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana and the government have reached a memorandum of understanding to end the strike
- According to CETAG, the government has finally shown commitment to addressing their concerns
- The Employment Minister urged students who had left campus to return as the teachers would be returning soon
The Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG) and the government have signed a memorandum of understanding to end the strike.
CETAG embarked on a strike on June 14, 2024, to protest the government’s failure to implement agreed-upon arbitral awards and negotiated service conditions set by the National Labour Commission.
Source: UGC
CETAG vowed not to resume work till the government does the needful.
The prolonged strike action led to academic activities in all 46 colleges of education grounding to a halt.
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Students were stranded on campuses, causing some to pack up and go home as the strike dragged on.
Following the government’s meeting with CETAG earlier today, August 19, 2024, Maxwell Bunu, CETAG’s National Trustee, said most of their concerns had been addressed.
He said that while the CETAG delegation was satisfied with the outcome of the meeting with the government, it would have to present a report of what ensued to the CETAG leadership for an official decision to be announced.
He said the government has, among other things, agreed to de-freeze their July and August salary payments.
He said that, given the government's level of commitment, it would not be prudent for CETAG to remain on strike.
Bunu was hopeful that the CETAG leadership would announce the end of their two-month strike by tomorrow.
The Employment and Labour Relations Minister, Ignatius Baffour Awuah, said it had urged PRINCOF and CETAG to collaborate and make up for the lost academic time.
He urged students who had gone home to return to school as the teachers were about to resume their work.
GTEC says colleges to remain open
Earlier, the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) said all 46 Colleges of Education will remain open despite the prolonged strike of the Colleges of Education Teachers’ Association of Ghana (CETAG).
GTEC stated that while there have been calls for the closure of the colleges, it has not reached such a conclusion, and neither has the Education Minister directed it to do the same.
To demonstrate the government’s commitment to addressing their demands, GTEC says it has successfully migrated 20 institutions and expects to migrate the remaining 26 institutions before the end of the month.
GTEC also announced that the government had paid the top-up of the research allowance to 44 colleges of education, excluding McCoy and Dambai, which have unresolved technical issues, among others.
PRINCOF urges CETAG to return
YEN.com.gh reported that the Conference of Principals of Colleges of Education had urged the Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana to call off its strike.
According to PRINCOF, the government has begun to fulfil its part of the Memorandum of Understanding.
PRINCOF appealed to CETAG to reciprocate the government's 'gesture of goodwill' by returning to the classroom.
Proofread by Berlinda Entsie, journalist and copy editor at YEN.com.gh
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Source: YEN.com.gh
