Regional News of Wednesday, 18 July 2007

Source: GNA

Offinso district teachers resume classes

Offinso (Ash), July 18, GNA- Teachers in Offinso district of Ashanti on Monday returned to the classrooms after a week's sit-down strike action in protest against alleged poor administrative practices. The teachers who demanded the immediate transfer of Mrs Christiana Agyare Boateng, the District Director of Education, resumed classes in response to an appeal made by Mrs Belinda Serwaa Addo, Ashanti Regional Director of Education.

In a press release jointly signed by Mr P.H. Aduhene and Mr A.K.A. Berko, Chairman and Secretary respectively of the Conference of Heads of Basic Schools (COHBS), the teachers expressed their appreciation to the Regional Director of Education and Mr Augustine Collins Ntim, the Offinso District Chief Executive for the concern shown towards their plight.

They however appealed to the Ghana Education Service (GES) and other stakeholders to speed up investigations into their grievances to avert the possible collapse of education delivery in the district. It would be recalled that on July 9 this year, the teachers at a press conference, demanded the transfer of the District Director of Education whom they accused of being disrespectful. They also accused her of poor human relations, which they claimed, had stifled effective promotion and development of education in the district.

The teachers again alleged that the Director collected and embezzled 1,400 Ghana Cedis (14 million cedis) meant for the organization of last year's inter-zonal sports festival and also failed to pay transfer allowances to deserving teachers. When contacted, Mrs Addo commended the teachers for responding positively to her appeal and said their grievances had been forwarded to the GES headquarters in Accra. The Regional Director of Education, however, advised them to desist from any acts that may undermine professional discipline and effective teaching and learning.

When the Ghana News Agency visited some of the schools, the teachers were seen busily teaching.