Teaching activities in Colleges of Education across the country have come to a standstill as members of the Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG) continue their indefinite strike.
The industrial action, which began last week, stems from what CETAG describes as the government’s persistent failure to fully implement the agreed-upon 2023 Conditions of Service for tutors in the country’s 46 Colleges of Education.
At St. John Bosco’s College of Education in the Upper East Region, classrooms were empty, with hundreds of teacher trainees left idle.
The acting Chairman of St. John Bosco’s College of Education CETAG chapter, Isaac Abugre, said the government’s failure to fully implement the agreed conditions is the rationale behind their decision to withdraw teaching and assessment services.
“They (Government) were supposed to migrate us from what they call the colleges of education system to the traditional university system, but that has not been to the fullest; some grievances still keep on coming out from that ruling. The government has not been able to fully implement what the Labour Commission ruled in favour of CETAG.
According to Abugre, the recent appeal by the Minister of Education for tutors to suspend the strike and return to the classroom for two weeks while negotiations continue does not inspire confidence among CETAG members. He suggested that such calls often amount to political gimmicks that fail to yield real results.
“We love our job, we love our students. We are feeling that we are missing them as they miss us in the classroom but if we go back, what it means is that there is a possibility this Minister is also likely to slip, so for us,\ we think it is politics as usual.” He said responding to the Ministers call to return to the classroom
The CETAG leader reiterated that tutors have grown frustrated over repeated delays and inconsistencies in implementing their Conditions of Service issues he insists have had a significant impact on the welfare and motivation of college tutors nationwide.
Abugre further appealed to student teachers, urging them to throw their support behind the association’s demands. He encouraged them to take advantage of the break in academic activity to continue studying independently while the standoff persists.