Hundreds of newly trained teachers employed by the Ghana Education Service (GES) are appealing to government to settle outstanding salary arrears.
The group members who were employed in December last year said four out of their five-month salary arrears are yet to hit their account.
Spokesperson of the group, Ekow Djan, said the situation is affecting their livelihood. They want relevant stakeholders to ensure that the Controller and Accountant General’s Department settle the arrears.
He was quoted by CNR as saying: “We were employed in December 2019 and on our appointment letters, it was stated that we were to start work on 1st December, 2019. So by extension, if the government should pay us, they should pay us from December onwards. But what we realised was that the government paid only April salary and we don’t know what the reason is.”
“Already, we’ve tried to speak with them and they are not giving us any tangible reason but the concern is that government was supposed to pay us for five months arrears but they rather paid only one month. So we are just calling on the government to as a matter of urgency ensure that they settle the remaining four months for us,” Djan further appealed.
In 2019, these teachers launched a series of protests against the National Service Scheme (NSS) over what they call illegal deductions —threatening to take the NSS to court.
There were widespread outrage after a charge of ¢35 was deducted when they submitted their June allowance form to their various district offices to cater for the cost of the Lacoste and dues at GHS20.00 and GHS15.00 respectively.
According to the teachers, they weren’t informed prior to the deductions and were up in arms over what they said was a deliberate attempt to force a nylon Lacoste and association dues on them.
Ekow Djan, who spoke to Accra-based Citi News, said their members did not sign up for the national service week celebration, which the amount is being deducted for.
By Jonathan Ofori, Daily Mail GH
Email Daily Mail GH: stories@dailymailgh.com or
Whatsapp: +233(0)509928122
