The Parliamentary Committee on Education says it cannot do much in addressing the concerns of the various teacher unions regarding the Pre-Tertiary Education Bill.
According to the teacher unions, the Bill in its current form will disrupt the synergy between teachers and the Ghana Education Service, which will negatively impact the educational sector.
In a Citi News interview, a Ranking Member on the Committee, Peter Nortsu Kotoe said his outfit has since referred the unions to the Education Ministry to iron out issues.
“A few weeks ago, the teacher unions appeared before the committee to raise some issues concerning the Pre-Tertiary Bill. Issues that they raised bordered on a policy. So as a committee, we advised them that we will not be able to make the changes that they wanted.
“So they should take it up to the Ministry of Education who are the sponsors of the Bill. Whatever outcome they arrive at, the Minister will inform us and then we would take it from there. Since then, about three weeks now, we haven’t heard anything from them or the Minster either,” he noted.
Background
The coalition of unions under the Ghana Education Service (GES) is still insisting it will continue to resist the new Pre-Tertiary Bill because of the lack of consultation and other reasons.
According to the teachers, the Bill only seeks to give more appointing powers to the political class to the detriment of quality education and the welfare of teachers.
In almost every region in the country, the teacher unions have vowed to reject the Bill which they fear will see basic schools, Senior High Schools and Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) being managed by the District Assemblies, Regional Education Directorate and a Director-General independent of the Ghana Education Service.
The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Teachers & Educational Workers’ Union (TEWU), Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana (CCT-Ghana) and National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) are the unions kicking against the passage of the Bill currently before Parliament.
However, the Ministry of Education says it has no intention of introducing partisan politics into the country’s educational sector.
