Accra (Greater Accra) 13 April '99

Teachers in the Greater Accra region have embarked on a sit-down strike as a warning to the government to expedite action on the implementation of the Price Waterhouse report. Mrs Eleanor Ohene, Regional Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), told a press briefing in Accra on Monday that the strike is a warning signal to the Central Management Board (CMB) to take a second look at its attitude towards the implementation of recommendations of the report. A statement by the CMB had said it had completed the examination of the off-loading exercise. The Greater Accra regional branch of GNAT said it is aware that certain specific issues and problems identified in the off-loading exercise and presented to the CMB were yet to be tackled. "It is on record that the CMB has failed to meet our team to iron out the necessary issues before going on air." Mrs Ohene said the regional GNAT feels "such an attitude smacks of throwing dust into our eyes, and is unprecedented and disappointing." Meanwhile, there seems to be confusion among teachers. Some of those present disagreed with the timing of the strike action. They argued that during the strike the workload in the classroom would pile up and they would have to sit down to clear it. It was pointed out that some schools in the region were not heeding the strike call and were running normal school hours. Some were of the view that GNAT executives were playing politics with them and registered their dissatisfaction with the conduct of the executive. They finally resolved, however, that "if we come back from holidays and nothing is heard from the CMB, the national executives should involve all the regions in the strike action."