VIDEOS: GNAT National Council staged a walkout on Deputy Education Minister over TM1 laptop issues
Deputy Education Minister Professor Kingsley Nyarko and GNAT National Council members
The National Council of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) staged a walkout on the Deputy Education Minister Professor Kingsley Nyarko due to unresolved laptop issues affecting teachers in the country.
This incident happened on July 22, 2024, at GNAT Village, Abankro Ejisu in the Ashanti Region of Ghana during the Association’s programme.
According to our sources, the National Council of GNAT had expected Education Minister Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum to address them on their long-awaited laptops and related concerns, but he failed to provide an official statement. His absence at the GNAT Village triggered their decision to stage a walkout on Deputy Minister Professor Kingsley Nyarko.
READ MORE: CONFIRMED: Specifications for the TM1 Teachers Laptops announced
In a video coverage, the GNAT National Council members were seen hooting at the Deputy Minister of Education with revolutionary songs.
Most Ghanaian teachers had deductions made for the TM1 laptop, announced by the government to enhance teaching and learning. However, the initiative only resulted in salary deductions for many teachers, leaving them without clear updates.
READ MORE: We do not have data on KA Technologies Registrar General and Ghana Standards Authority
On September 16, 2022, our report indicated that Ghanaian teachers announced dates and venues for a demonstration over the delayed One Teacher One Laptop distribution. The planned demonstration was a response to the delay in distributing laptops, for which teachers had been deducted.
It appears that the leadership of the teacher unions has no options other than to openly join the fight with its members (teachers) across the country to fight the government due to the delay in the distribution of the TM1 laptops.
BACKGROUND
Three teacher unions, Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Graduates Association of Teachers (NAGRAT), and Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana (CCT-GH), in a joint memorandum requested that the Government of Ghana, through the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service, provide teachers with laptops.
According to the proposal, the government absorbed 70% of the cost of the laptops while each teacher was deducted 30% of the cost of the laptop.
After several agitations, a total of GH¢509.55 was deducted from the Provisional Development Allowance (PDA) for teachers in November 2021 for the laptops.
About 3 years down the line, some teachers are yet to receive the laptops for which the money was deducted by the government from the source by the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department.
READ MORE: Teachers announce date to demonstrate over delay in One-Teacher-One-Laptop distribution
Source: Coverghana.com.gh
