The country’s numerous teacher unions have banded together to oppose the government’s intention to deduct ten percent of their salaries as rent for occupying residential flats in schools.
Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT), All Teachers Alliance, and Teachers and Educational Workers Union are among the teacher unions (TEWU).
Leaders of various teacher unions and the Teachers and Educational Workers Union have condemned the government’s plan to deduct rent from teachers’ meager salaries, claiming that there is no incentive package for the teaching profession and that teachers’ salaries are nothing to write home about. Taking ten percent of a teacher’s salary as rent for occupying a school bungalow will affect the teachers financially, and the current economic conditions have brought untold hardship to teachers.
Teachers in boarding schools who take on the role of house parents (House Masters/Mistresses and Senior House Masters/Mistresses) have not been paid the responsibility allowance that the government is supposed to provide them. After being promoted to a new compensation scale and rank, the majority of these instructors were removed from the responsibility allowance.
These teachers are in charge of looking after the students in the boarding house; most schools have a resident of the House Masters attached to the dormitory (a small cubicle converted to the House Masters room); these teachers are to control the movement of students in the school; without them, students will be able to leave at any time they want; some of these teachers are required to take sick students to the hospital at odd hours when they are supposed to be there; and some of these teachers are required to take sick students to the