GHANA NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF TEACHERS (GNAT)                  

6^TH QUADRENNIAL (53^RD) NATIONAL DELEGATES CONFERENCE

The National Council of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) announces for the information of its members, stakeholders and the general public, the organisation

of its 6^th Quadrennial (53^rd) National Delegates Conference at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), from 2^nd – 9^th January, 2022.

Theme:

“GNAT @90; SURVIVING AS A RELIABLE AND VIBRANT TEACHER UNION IN THE 21^ST CENTURY”

 Highlights of the Conference Agenda include:

1. Formal Opening: E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo

                                     (President of the Republic of Ghana)

2. Keynote Address:   Prof. Emmanuel Adow Obeng

                             (President, Presbyterian University College Abetifi)  

1. Election of National Officers of GNAT:

Pursuant to Article 23(1)(c) of the Constitution and Rules of GNAT as amended in 2018, the underlisted positions (which would fall vacant by the tail end of the conference) are hereby advertised.

• National President
• National Vice President
• National Treasurer
• 1^st National Trustee
• 2^nd National Trustee

2. Investiture of National Officers.

3. Filing of nominations starts from 1^ST SEPTEMBER, 2021 AND CLOSES ON 30^TH SEPTEMBER, 2021.

Interested GNAT members may pick the nomination forms from the GNAT Headquarters or Regional and District GNAT Secretariats, or download

them from the GNAT Website or the GNAT Social Media Platforms.

 Five (5) Copies of duly filled Nomination forms shall be submitted by the  candidate at Room 15, GNAT Headquarters - Accra ONLY and in PERSON.

THOMAS TANKO MUSAH

(GENERAL SECRETARY)

ABENA GYAMERA

(NATIONAL GNATEC CHAIRPERSON)

Dated: 30^th August, 2021

Click on the link below to download nomination form

https://ghanateachers.com/news-media/downloads/category/1-gnat-statements

By: Emmanuel Bonney

Three teacher unions have called for a smooth conduct of this year’s West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates devoid of malpractices.

According to them, stakeholders including invigilators, supervisors, candidates, parents, teachers and officials of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) should all collaborate to ensure the sanctity, credibility and integrity of the examination  which begins with Oral English throughout the country tomorrow, September 1, 2021.

The General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Mr Thomas Musah, the President of the National Association of Graduates Teachers (NAGRAT), Mr Eric Carbonu and the Presdent of the Coalition of Concerned Teachers-Ghana (CCT-Gh), King Awudu Ali, made the call in separate interviews with the Daily Graphic on Monday.

Candidates

A total of 446,321 final-year SHS students are writing the 2021 WASSCE for school candidates across the country. They are made up of 221,437 males and 224,884 females from 965 public and private second cycle institutions.

The 2021 WASSCE statistics available to the Daily Graphic indicate that the public schools are 651 while the private ones are 314.NThe examination, which began with the project work last Monday, will have the written papers taking off on September 1, 2021. A total of 763 supervisors will be at the 763 centres to invigilate the examination.

GNAT

Mr Musah congratulated the candidates and wished them a successful examination.

“We are aware that the going has been tough, arduous and tempestuous, yet as the saying goes — when the going gets tough, the tough keeps going. Again, no lasting glory is won without struggle. That Ghanaian students have withstood all odds and gone through the system shows the zeal and resilience in them, and we congratulate them for these sterling qualities,” he said.

He said the time had come for candidates to make themselves, their teachers, parents and all stakeholders proud and expressed the hope that they would live up to the task since they had to safeguard their future by excelling.

NAGRAT

Wishing the candidates well, Mr Carbonu, for his part, said it was the expectation of NAGRAT that this year’s WASSCE would be conducted in an atmosphere of peace devoid of examination malpractices.

“We also take the opportunity to encourage all our teachers administering the examinations to conduct themselves professionally.

“We also call on the officials of WAEC to ensure that security is adequately provided for both students and teachers during the examination,” he said.

CCT-Gh

Mr Ali, who also wished the candidates the best in the examination, expressed the hope that they would come out with flying colours.

“As a yearly ritual, we would caution that they desist from any form of examination malpractice that has the tendency of getting their papers cancelled. But the most important thing is about our teachers. It is the wish of every teacher to see his/her student pass,” he said.

By: graphic.com.gh

The General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Thomas Musah, says some Senior High Schools (SHSs)

in the country have been hit with food shortages.

He said the schools are mostly found in the Eastern, Ashanti, Northern, and Volta regions.

According to him, the situation, if not remedied, could affect the health of the students in the affected schools. Speaking on Accra-based Citi FM on Tuesday, August 31, 2021,
he said making the issue public was not intended to bring anybody down or to make the government unpopular. For him, making the issue public was to court the attention of all key
stakeholders, particularly duty bearers, including the President and the sector minister to help address the situation.

"We need to do something to help our children," Mr Musah noted, adding "We need to do something to ensure that these children pass and pass well."

He said how the students are fed is not the best, saying “the conditions under which our children are learning is not the best."
For him, the posture taken by some duty bearers that there is not food shortages affecting schools in the country will not help to address the situation, and that the issue needed to be addressed urgently.
"We cannot compromise on the health of our students," he said, pointing out that the leadership of GNAT is doing everything possible to ensure that the schools have enough food supplies.

The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), has presented a total of GHS154,000.00 to seven Science-based Colleges of Education in the country.

The gesture from the teacher union is to aid the schools to improve the training of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education in Ghana.

Colleges of Education have relied on government support to equip their institutions to adequately train teachers who will be spearheading the teaching of STEM in basic and second-cycle schools.

This support over the years has been inadequate.

GNAT is hoping the donation will be used to equip these institutions to train more  STEM-based teachers.

The beneficiary schools are :

• St. John Bosco’s – Navrongo, Upper East Region
• Kibi – Kibi, Eastern Region
• Bagabaga – Tamale, Northern Region
• Wesley – Kumasi, Ashanti Region
• St. Francis – Hohoe, Volta Region
• Nusrat Jahan Ahmadiyya – Wa, Upper West Region
•  OLA – Cape Coast, Central Region.

Making the donation, the General Secretary of GNAT, Thomas Musah, indicated that each school has been given a sum of GHS22,000.00 to enable them to take care of infrastructure/science equipment, laboratories, and other needs.

He stated that Section 4 of the Colleges of Education Act, 2012, requires the Colleges of Education, to among others, set up well-equipped resource centers where staff, students, and serving teachers will be assisted to acquire skills in making and using teaching and learning materials for effective classroom teaching and develop close relationships with professional teacher organizations for professional development.

Mr. Thomas Musah added that “It is also worthy to note, that Article 3(1g) of the 2018 amended GNAT Constitution enjoins the Association to assist the Colleges of Education.”

“It is within this framework of friendship, commitment to the cause of Education in the Colleges of Education, and in Ghana’s schools in general, and demonstration of our welfare that the Ghana National Association of Teachers is going to the listed Science-based Colleges of Education with a total amount of GHS154,000.00. We hope the donations would be used for their intended purpose, and GNAT looks forward to just that.”

By: Kojo Agyeman

Three pre-tertiary education labour unions have given the government up to the end of September this year to address a number of issues affecting their members as well as teaching and learning in schools.
They said anything short of that would cause them to advise themselves.

The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana (CCT-GH) said the lack of textbooks, overcrowded classrooms, delay in payment of capitation grant, increase in workload and the non-payment of responsibility allowances were some of the issues.

They further mentioned teacher promotion, refusal to appoint teachers in offices, transfer of teachers in Special schools, signing of performance contract without the involvement of unions as other concerns.

“We the teacher unions are hereby serving notice that if by the close of September 2021 all these issues are not resolved in full by the employer, we will have no option but to advise ourselves in the best interest of our members within the framework of our collective agreement and the applicable laws of Ghana,” the General Secretary of GNAT, Mr Thomas Musah, said on behalf of the unions at a news conference in Accra on Tuesday.

Progress

Mr Musah indicated that in spite of the progress the country had made in improving access to education, there were still challenges inhibiting thousands, adding that the authorities had failed to provide teachers and pupils with modern aids to teaching and learning.

“There are no textbooks, school environment is not conducive for learning, classes are overcrowded, the payment of capitation grant and administrative resources are delayed, among others,” he said.

The poor quality of education, he said, could be seen in the results of students in first cycle schools in the country.

Mr Musah said the hours teachers were required to work per day and per week should be determined by the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the teacher unions as enjoined by the collective agreement.

Workload

Regrettably, he said, the GES had not only increased the workload of teachers, but also failed to compensate the affected teachers.

Again, he said, the slow pace of the GES system in upgrading teachers who financed themselves to acquire degrees and those who had completed their study leave with pay was worrying and demoralising.

“It is pertinent to note that even with the teachers who have been upgraded, they were not paid on the effective or substantive dates they were upgraded. The disturbing issue is that some were given three months arrears, while the majority received nothing,” he emphasised.

Moreover, Mr Musah said, there were teachers who held various positions of responsibility who were entitled to responsibility allowances, but their allowances had been stopped after they were promoted to other ranks.

“Despite several efforts by the teachers and the teacher unions, a greater number of the teachers have not had their allowances restored,” he said.

He mentioned other benefits that were yet to be honoured as car maintenance allowance, rent advance, allowance for teachers in deprived areas and additional duty allowance.

He expressed concern over the transfer of teachers in Special schools, and charged the GES to suspend the action.

He also called on the GES to suspend the signing of performance contracts with heads of institutions until it was discussed with the unions.

Source: graphiconline.com