Teacher compensation under Dual Intake System inadequate – NAGRAT

The National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), has said the expected compensation for partaking in the Dual Intake System for secondary education is not enough.

As at now, NAGRAT has said GH₵50 per student for each semester is earmarked for additional compensation when the new system starts in September 2018.

[contextly_sidebar id=”0H2QH12jsgui09mHjrCJ9qXG4iFQnUom”]”The government has indicated that each student will pay GHc50 or the price per student on the additional workload will be GH₵50 per semester that the children will be in school,” Angel Carbonu, NAGRAT’s President, told Citi News.

“But when you do this; when you break it down, you realize that this is actually no money. [Whether] monthly or daily, you see that it is no money.”

NAGRAT had previously cautioned government against implementing the new system for secondary education without consulting stakeholders in education.

The new system is expected to cost GH₵323 million to implement fully. GH₵267.2 million of this amount will go into teaching costs and GH₵55.8 million for academic interventions.

The Dual Intake System is to counteract the infrastructure deficit due to the increased number of persons benefiting from the Free SHS policy.

Without the double-track system, the government will require GH₵1.3 billion to accommodate the increase in numbers.

Among the infrastructure needs are a 622 six-unit classroom blocks at the cost of GH₵404 million, 181,993 student desks costing GH₵81.6 million and 3,730 teachers’ furniture estimated at GH₵3.6 million.

The rest are 415 dormitories, costing GH₵539 million, 51,868 bunk beds valued at GH₵41.4 million and 8,872 new teachers, which will cost GH₵267 million.

How the Dual Intake System will work

This new system will run in all the categories A and B senior high schools in the country.

The new programme creates a calendar of two semesters in a year for the SHS 1 class, containing 81 days per each semester and 41 days of vacation for a sandwich class.

Over 8,000 teachers are being recruited to handle the sandwich classes, so teachers are not be deprived of their holidays.

Under the new system, teaching hours are increased from six hours per day to eight hours per day.

Teaching hours are expected to increase from 1,080 hours per year under the current single-track system to 1,134 hours per year under the proposed double-track system.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citinewsroom.com/Ghana