Unveiling the Untold Struggles of Ghanaian Teachers: A Cry for Justice and Recognition

Ghana Education News | The sad life of a Ghanaian teacher | Unveiling the Untold Struggles of Ghanaian Teachers: A Cry for Justice and Recognition |April 17th, 2024

The Struggles of Ghanaian Teachers is a never ending one and if you are looking for the poor people in Ghana, first look out for the sad life of a Ghanaian teacher in your locality. The teaching profession and what teachers are paid in Ghana have turned billionaires and rich men and women into poor people, all because they chose the teaching profession in Ghana.

Unveiling the Untold Struggles of Ghanaian Teachers

In a Tik-Tok video sighted by Ghana Education News, the speaker bemoaned the poor treatment from the government of the day, leading to strike actions. @chieve_doctor posted a worrying video.

According to the speaker, teachers in the pre-tertiary sector of education are those who are treated badly the most. According to him, some teachers go on pension and get just GHS1000, GHS1300, or GHS1500 a month, and in some instances, many of the teachers get below the amount.

He furthered that some teachers sadly suffer life-threatening ailments such as stroke just before they go on pension, and the money they receive as pension benefits is unable to sustain them. In some instances, these teachers who sacrificed their lives to develop the human resources based on the nation have to battle in wheel chairs for the little SSNIT will give them as retirement benefits.

Teachers are suffering in Ghana, but they also do not have a mouthpiece that speaks to their issues. The sad reality is that the media in Ghana hardly talks about the plight of teachers until issues about strikes and others pop up.

Even chiefs, the clergy, and opinion leaders have been mute about the plight of the Ghanaian teacher.

What should our teachers do now?

If Ghana were a serious country, we would ensure that issues regarding the welfare of teachers and issues relating to education would trend every day instead of issues relating to Serwar Amihere.

All issues about teachers must be threatened as worrying national issues and must be given the needed attention on all platforms.

On February 15, 2024, teachers released a letter stating that they would be embarking on a strike action if the government did not act to deal with issues that had been tabled for a long time. In that release, they indicated their disappointment with the government of Ghana. The sad reality is that the monthly income of a minister’s home in Ghana is higher than the salary of a teacher in Ghana.

It is very annoying that a call for an increase in teachers Professional Development Allowance (PDA) from GHS1200 a year to GHS3000.00 and other demands have not been fulfilled, leading to a strike.

The government has been adamant in responding to a request for the utility, housing, and other related allowances to be reviewed upward, yet the government has decided to waste GHS 3200 on each student at the SHS level to provide them with free tablets.

A further call for the government to increase the allowance of teachers in deprived areas to 20% has also not been approved by the government. As we speak, we have established that a single teacher in a deprived community manages all 8 classes in the school.

Even after calling off the strike to continue negotiations, the government has not shown any signs of willingness to deal with the issues tabled by the three pre-tertiary unions.

Struggles of Ghanaian Teachers are visible in our education sector on a day to day basis but who is speaking on behalf of teachers in Ghana?

The classrooms in our public schools are the offices in which teachers work with students, yet our schools have very poor infrastructure. Some classrooms have so many potholes; others have weak and falling walls. Some are just not fit for humans to learn in, and many have no or fewer tables and chairs for students to learn in. Yet, as a nation, we deem spending GHS3200.00 on each of the 1.3 million students in SHS on tablets.

READ: Empowering Teacher Leadership: Strategies for Professional Growth and Advancement

The government has lost direction and does not see the need to solve the basic problems of education that can be better transformed. One student, one tablet is purely a waste of scarce resources that can be used to address the current challenges facing our education system.

Teachers in Ghana must rise up as a united front in this election year to ensure that their votes speak and determine their choices.

Just look at the life of the teacher who taught you in primary school, junior high school, and secondary school, and you will agree with us that the life of our teachers has not improved significantly.

The pre-tertiary unions expected to fight for teachers have also been diluted by skewed political choices and persons who pretend to be fighting for teachers’ welfare.

READ: Free SHS students are more important to gov’t than teachers and their strike

This post “Unveiling the Untold Struggles of Ghanaian Teachers: A Cry for Justice and Recognition” has painted a picture of the sad reality of our teachers and how government has neglected them. What do you think?

Source: Ghanaeducationnews.org