Bongo (U/E), Feb 13, GNA - Pioneers of Diploma in Basic Education (DBE) teachers in the Bongo District have threatened to withdraw their services if the District Director of Education, Mr. Francis Agyeere, is not withdrawn from the district by the end of the second term of the academic year.

The 90 pioneers of DBE teachers stated this in a petition copied to the Regional Director of Education, District Chief Executive of Bongo, Bongo District Committee on Education and the Member of Parliament for the area.

The petition said most of the teachers who started working in 2007 had not been paid and are living on allowances. It said they protested to the District Director and the Regional Director of Education and went on a sit down strike last December but upon assurance that they would be paid they resumed work but nothing had been done.

"It is regrettable to note that despite the group's decision to call off our strike on the 18 December, 2008 we have not been briefed as to whether he (Director) is working on our documents to facilitate the settlement of our arrears."

The petition said the District Director lacked a sense of empathy and communication skills and that his belligerence and outright issuance of threats was not creating a good working relationship between teachers and the District Directorate. "The attitude of the Director will have a serious impact on education in the District if the situation is not reversed." Mr Agyeere told the GNA that the Directorate was working to make sure that those teachers whose arrears had not been paid were paid and that their names had been compiled and submitted to Controller and Accountant General.

He said teachers who had perused further studies in the DBE had to undergo certain process for them to be upgraded and their names sent to the Controller and Accountant General. Mr Agyeere said another procedure that delayed payment was the confirmation of their results from the West Africa Examinations Council before upgrading that some of the teachers had not done. He said they were not the only teachers who were affected by the problem but that it was a nationwide issue that the Controller and Account General's Department was working at. Mr. Agyeere urged the teachers to remain at post since the Directorate had upgraded most of them and their names submitted to the Controller and Account General's Department.