Winneba (C/R), March 8, GNA - Mr J A Faouko, Deputy General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), has appealed to the government to spread the refund of overpayment made to some teachers over a period of time to alleviate hardship it was causing them.

He blamed the Controller and Accountant General's Department for the overpayment and said the present plight of the overpaid teachers should be considered since at the end of each month almost all their salaries were deducted as refund for the overpayment.

The Deputy General Secretary made the appealed when he addressed the second general meeting of the University of Education branch of the Ghana National Association of Teachers on campus, GNATOC at Winneba. He urged members of the branch to forward any grievances in the form of petition to the Ghana Education Service for redress, adding that unions had been formed to negotiate for the payment of salaries this year.

Mr Faouko urged the government to fast rack the negotiations in order to effect changes in the anomalies in the 2008 salaries without any further delay.

In an address read for her the General Secretary Mrs Duncan Adanusa, urged third year student teachers whose salaries had been stalled to exercise restraint while their grievances were addressed. She appealed to teachers on campus without study leave, to communicate to their district officials to address the issue. The Municipal Director of Education for Awutu Effutu Mr Daniel Kaku Arhin, urged teachers put in their maximum efforts to help improve education standard in the country. He was not happy that schools in his directorate did not perform creditably in external examinations and exhorted teachers to give of their best to reverse the situation. 8 March 08