The
National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) has declared indefinite
strike to push for the payment of the salary arrears of their members, which
they claim, has been in arrears for three years.
President of NAGRAT, Angel Carbonu, also raised concerns about delays in
reinstating teachers who have completed their study leave, something he blamed
on the human resources management information systems (HRMIS).
At a news conference to declare the strike, Mr Carbonu said the HRMIS also
raised concern about the nonpayment of allowances for additional services
rendered by teachers and expiration of their collective bargaining agreement.
On the back of these issues, he has asked its members “who are yet to reopen”
to “stay away from the school premises even when they reopen”.
Meanwhile
the
Ghana Education Service (GES) has stated that it has no intention of introducing
Arabic in primary school. It explained that the subjects to be studied in
literacy component under the curriculum review for primary six were English
Language, Ghanaian language (s) and French.
“As a matter of fact, none of the 152,000 kindergarten and primary school
teachers who took part in the recent nationwide orientation on the new
standards-based curriculum received training in Arabic,” a statement signed and
issued by the Head of the Public Relations Unit of the GES, Ms Cassandra Twum
Ampofo, explained.
The statement explained that though the JHS curriculum was yet to be reviewed,
“there are plans to develop a curriculum for Arabic at the JHS level, considering
its present global status as a modern foreign language”.
It said currently, Arabic was offered in some schools in the Islamic Education
Unit, expressing the concern that the absence of an official curriculum in
Arabic had culminated in a situation where different schools resorted to their
own arrangements and materials to teach the subject.
The statement explained that the decision to teach Arabic or not would be based
on the individual school, as well as the availability of an Arabic teacher.