Members of the Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG) at the St. Boscos College of Education in Navrongo in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality of the Upper East Region have joined members nationwide for an indefinite strike action declared by the national leadership.
The national leadership of the Association after an emergency national council meeting on Monday, October 29, 2018, in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region directed its members across the country, in all the 46 colleges of education, to suspend their service to their various colleges as a sign of protest.
The indefinite strike follows government’s inability to reach agreement with CETAG on the interim market premium and book and research allowance for its members after a three-month period of negotiations.
In an interview, the Northern Zonal Chairman of CETAG, Local Chairman and Lecturer at the St. Boscos College of Education, Kojo Kwara, said apart from the interim market premium and book and research allowance, members have also been demanding for an improved working condition to befit their new status, from tutors of training colleges to lecturers of colleges of education, which has eluded them since 2012 when the colleges were migrated.
According to him, since the training colleges were migrated to colleges of education in 2012, conditions of service for lecturers are yet to be upgraded and previous agitations have only resulted in promises from governments, which have not yielded the desired results and so, this time, members would continue to be on strike till government meets their needs.
If the indefinite strike continues, it will affect teaching, workshops, orientation and opening assembly programmes for level 100 students, staff and committee meetings. It will also affect setting and marking of assignments and examinations, invigilation of examinations, supervision of students’ projects, assisting in the administration of departments/units/halls of residence and supervision of students’ internships off campus.
However, the strike will not affect the research work by CETAG members, publications, creative works and consulting.
The St. Boscos College of Education in Navrongo was earlier scheduled to re-open on October 1, 2018, but had to be postponed to October 29, 2018. The students feel they are already behind and wish the strike be called off as soon as possible for academic work to resume.
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