The government has said it is in the process of paying legacy arrears owed various teacher unions across the country.
The arrears which include over two years salary and promotion arrears as well allowances of some public school teachers have sparked a series of demonstrations in the education sector.
A Deputy Education Minister, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, said the government is currently engaging the teachers to come up with workable modalities in paying the debt.
“The GES is doing everything possible to clear the legacy arrears,” the Deputy Minister said.
The President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Angel Carbonu, also indicated that a meeting with regards to the payment of legacy arrears will be held today [Thursday].
“Today, the Ghana Education Service has invited the representatives of the various unions to discuss the Legacy Arrears issue,” Mr. Carbournu said.
Teacher unions in the country — the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT) — have all on several occasions threatened to lay down their tools from over the failure of the government to pay the legacy arrears.
In 2019, President of GNAT, Ms Philippa Larsen, said the payment of the Legacy Debt had delayed due to some discrepancies detected by the GES.
“The subject for discussion was the legacy arrears which spanned the period 2012-2016. Primarily, we the unions were concerned with the payment of the said arrears because our checks had revealed that the arrears had been verified and approved for payment by the Controller and Accountant-General’s Internal Audit Unit about three weeks earlier.
“However, we were informed that when the verified data were handed over to the GES for review and action, the GES would not budge, because it claimed some discrepancies had been detected.”
