Accra, March 8, GNA - Mrs Betty Mould-Iddrisu, Minister of Education= , on Tuesday reiterated her appeal to teachers to return to the classroom, while government holds talks with their leadership to resolve the anomalies arising from the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS)= .. She said about 20,000 teachers had been affected by the anomalies, which were detected after the test run by the Controller and Accountant General's Department (CAGD).

Mrs Mould-Iddrisu was speaking at a press briefing in Accra, to addres= s the anomalies arising from the migration of teachers onto the SSSS. She said her ministry and other stakeholders would hold an emergency meeting with the leadership of the National Association of Graduate Teacher= s (NAGRAT) and the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) later in the day.

Among those present at the meeting were Mr Enoch Teye Mensah, Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, Mr George Smith-Graham, Chief Executive Officer of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) and officials of the CAGD.

Mrs Mould-Iddrisu assured the teachers of government's commitment to the implementation of the new pay policy, saying it would not do anything that would be detrimental to the wellbeing of teachers. She said during the discussions with the leadership of the teachers, government would negotiate for a new category two and three allowances, which she said, were different from the consolidated salaries. Mr Mensah gave the assurance that the teachers would receive their new salaries by the end of the month.

He said the problems that teachers had faced over the years were that they had not enjoyed some of the allowances available to other workers in the public service.

He said the government was determined to initiate a new premium allowance for teachers to enable the state to retain them in the classrooms= .. President John Atta Mills on Sunday gave the assurance in his 54th Independence Day address that the anomalies would be rectified.