Management of the Ghana Education Service (GES) has issued guidelines over the deletion of teachers’ names from the government’s payroll.
This is in response to concerns raised by the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) about the situation, following the claims by the President of the Association of 15 months non-payment of salary of some members.
The Association had threatened to embark on a strike if the problem was not addressed.
However, the GES in a statement signed by its Head of Public Relations, Cassandra Twum Ampofo, said management had arrived at a consensus that guidelines should be issued for the “stoppage of salaries of staff as a way of dealing with the abuses.”
“The crux of the guidelines is that where there is a justifiable official reason why a particular salary should be stopped, the validatory should immediately inform the cost centre manager of the development and reason for that,” it said.
“On the other hand, where the reason for stopping the salary of any staff is not one of those indicated on the payroll system, (such as for disciplinary issues), the validator should only do that on the express authorisation of the cost centre manager. The cost centre manager should indicate such instances in a special report through the system,” it added.
Lesson notes
Portions of the statement also touched on the preparation of teachers’ lesson notes, saying the process should be made as flexible as possible.
“Where both teacher and supervisor agree that it should be prepared and submitted electronically, it should be allowed. Where it cannot be transmitted electronically, a print-out of the typed lesson notes should be submitted for vetting and approval,” it said.
“Where for any valid reason it cannot be prepared electronically, it should be done manually based on agreement between both parties,” it added.
On the issue of issue of chalk and other teaching and learning materials, it said the process of procuring and supplying chalk to schools are far advanced.
“Indeed some urgent supplies have been made to areas such as Western, Western North, and Eastern Regions. All regions which need chalk will be supplied. It is important to stress that there are other regions where we have unused stocks of chalk and some are being moved to areas which need some urgently,” it explained.
