Correspondence from Upper West Region

Some teachers from Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions in the Upper West Region are raising red flags over their 7-month unpaid salary.

They say the unfortunate situation is having a toll on them and their families with the marriages of some of them on the brink of collapse.

According to them, being unemployed is a different thing altogether but when one is known to be employed, no matter the explanation the person gives at home, it becomes extremely difficult to be accepted.

Speaking to GhanaWeb's regional correspondent Ilyaas Al-Hasan, on condition of anonymity for fear of being victimised, Kwame (not his real name) said:

"It hasn't been easy for us. For seven months now but not a single payment and we have families too. You see when you Keep telling your wife all of these, initially, she may be sympathising with you but as humans, there's a time that she will be fed up with you. Your relatives, everybody knows you're now working and yet because the salary is not coming you can't do anything for yourself and you can't also approach any relative for help since he or she knows you are now employed. We're pleading to the Ministry to please speed up things as we're suffering too much."

"Look, for me, suffering is an understatement for me. If there's a word stronger than that, is what I'll use. What's happening is that we keep borrowing from people to feed and also fuel our motorbikes to transport us to work and back but still no show. It's 7 months now and as a teacher, one needs to be in peace of mind to be able to teach the students well.

"We all know that a hungry person easily becomes angry. Maybe a student does something small which you should be able to handle but because of these things, you may allow your anger to swallow you. We're under pressure they should come to our aid," another aggrieved teacher, Farouk (not his real name) also vented his spleen to GhanaWeb.

"Please, GhanaWeb, do this for us; I know it's a very big platform. We thank the government for employing us but to work for 7 months without salary is something else. Nobody should pray to ever find himself in this situation.”

"As for our ministers responsible for the delay in payment should ask themselves if one of us was to be the person's ward or relative. We're borrowing money from people left, right, back, and front and I know that soon, these people may stop helping us. Every day, you go to teach and you can't do that without eating or getting something for your transportation.”

"For those of us with families, our marriages are just hanging on a thin thread. Anything can happen at any time. The government should please hear our cry and come to our aid. We're dying out of hunger. Just recently, one of our colleagues told us his wife had warned him that she would leave if things should continue to be same," another teacher, Konbadiana (not his real name) also expressed his frustration.

Another teacher, Arafat (also not his real name) stated: "It's very, very frustrating the situation we find ourselves in having to work for 7 months without pay. As for me, I hardly stay long in the room when my wife is around.

"You know as a man when there is nothing in your pocket, you don't have a say because if she makes any small request, you can't fulfill it for her so you become powerless. I know that being together for a long time may bring about some misunderstandings so I go home when she's already asleep and, in the morning, I prepare and leave the house very early.

"We're appealing to our Director-General, the Ministry of Education and Finance to come to our aid as we're really suffering. Can you imagine we get up every day to go to work using transportation, eat before we go teach and for 7 months there's no show yet? As for me, my marriage is even in danger due to my bad financial standing."

Following the passage of the Education Regulatory Bodies Act 2020 (Act 1023), 47 pure Technical Schools that were under the Ghana Education Service (GES) were moved to the TVET Service under a Director-General.

Subsequently, the TVET Service recruited about 3,000 teachers many of whom were posted to the 47 TVET schools.

Currently, there are about 238 TVET schools in the country (with 47 originally being under GES while the other 191 were either private or under other government institutions).

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