Parliament intervene for striking College tutors to be paid salaries

The Parliament Select Committee on Education has initiated a move to get the Ministry of Education to rescind its decision to block the payment of July salaries of teachers across the public Colleges of Education currently on strike.

Speaking to Starr News on the salary freeze, the Ranking Member of Parliament’s Education Committee, Peter Nortsu Kotoe described the directive issued by the Education Minister against the College teachers as improper.

“The Chairman of the Committee and myself met the Minister of Employment and expressed our reservation about the decision being taken by GTEC on the instruction of the Ministry for Education is improper.

So we asked him to make the Ministry withdraw that letter and he promised that he was going to do so so that their salaries would not be frozen for July

We were of the view that if you want a solution to the matter you go and stop their salary, it will not solve the problem, it will rather aggravate the problem

So, the Minister for Labour and Employment understood our position and according to him he has agreed to make sure that they take their salaries for July,” the government official told the Accra-based radio station.

On strike to protest the government’s delay in implementing the arbitral award and negotiated service conditions, the 2024 July salaries of 2,000 Colleges of Education teachers have been frozen by the Controller and Accountant General.

This comes after a letter by Nicholas Ameyaw of GTEC, on behalf of the Director-general of GTEC, Prof. Ahmed Jinapor, directed the Controller and Accountant General’s Department to freeze the salaries in response to the strike action.

The Tertiary Education Commission however said tutors and principals who were at post to ensure that properties of the colleges were safeguarded would be exempted and paid their July salary.

“You are by this letter requested to stop the salaries of all teaching staff of the Colleges of Education except for the College Principals for July. 2024,” part of the letter stated. “College Principals are not to validate the July 2024 salaries of all teaching staff,” the letter stated.