Some Pre-Tertiary Education Teacher Unions in the Upper East Region have called on the government to take steps to address the concerns of teachers regarding their unpaid allowances before May 13, 2024.

The teachers gave the ultimatum at a news conference in Bolgatanga jointly organised by the Teacher Unions.

They stressed that, should the government fail to heed to their request before the given date, they would advise themselves accordingly.

The Teacher Unions were made up of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana (CCT GH).

“We wish to stress, that we have had enough of the nonchalance, complacency, and aloofness of the employer, and would thus not countenance this situation any longer.

“…We wish to state in the strongest terms that, should the Employer fail to address our demands on or before May 13, 2024, we will take our next line of action,” they stressed.

Addressing the news conference, Mr Lare Kitonname, Regional Secretary, GNAT, indicated that since the negotiation of their Collective Agreement in 2009 and after the 2020 Collective Agreement, the government had failed to implement the allowances agreed on as well as promises given.

The Teacher Unions are demanding the payments of the deprived area allowance, the extra assessment allowance, the book/data/online allowance and upwards adjustment of the continuous professional development allowance.

“Currently, our Collective Agreement has expired since August 2023 and all efforts to get the Employer on the negotiating table to agree on the new Collective Agreement have proved futile. We have been contemplating on 17 types of allowances, however, due to several considerations we have reduced them to four.

“Despite this gesture of good faith from the Unions, the government is still adamant and has demonstrated bad faith. This has oftentimes culminated in high level despondency and disaffection for leadership,” he said.

He explained that the current economic hardships had had serious toll on the Ghanaian teacher in recent years and non-payment of the demanded allowances had further worsened their plights and called on stakeholders in the education sector to support their efforts.

“We have had to hang on the thin line with our members complaining bitterly. These complaints have become worse, especially as our members are reeling under the utter hardship imposed on us all by the current economic conditions in the country.

“We wish to emphasize that the last 24 months have been the most tortuous for the Ghanaian Teacher, with no ray of hope of relief initiated by the Employer”, he added.

The Regional Secretary underscored the significant role of teachers to the country’s quest to achieving quality and universal access to education and underscored the need to pay attention to the welfare of teachers.

“We thus call on stakeholders to support our next line of action if the government fails to meet this deadline,” he said.