The Teachers and Educational Workers Union, (TEWU) of the Trade Union Congress has called on government to give due recognition to the role of non-teaching staff towards the successful implementation of the double track system.
The Union said for the system to have smooth and continuous implementation, the roles of both the teaching and non-teaching staff in the education sector must be recognised.
A statement signed by Mr Augustine Saakuur Karbo, the General Secretary of TEWU and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra, said recognition was critical because “they are all partners in the provision of quality education in training excellent and efficient human resource for the Country”.
The implementation of the double track system is expected to take effect in September 2018, under the free Senior High School Policy.
The Statement said TEWU’s expectation was that the focus should be on how to ensure that appropriate numbers of both non-teaching and teaching staff were engaged to make the system work well.
“TEWU is a major partner in the development process to deliver or provide quality education in our country. We demand mutual respect and recognition of the non-teaching staff in the school environment, it is not only teachers who are to impact on students”, it said.
It said the Union was of the view that the behaviour of the non-teaching and teaching staff go a long way to reflect on moral, discipline and character of students, adding that the non-teaching staff undertake various activities such as sanitation, security, catering, driving, library services administrative functions, accounting functions, to ensure conducive environment for teaching and learning.
“Without adequate security, the teacher cannot have the sound mind to teach and the students too cannot have the sound mind to learn, if there is no food for the students to eat, they will be hungry”.
The Union calls for urgent recruitment of non-teaching staff in the light of the double track system which will increase student population, urging the Ministry of Finance to prioritise the financial clearance for the recruitment decision to be made.
“We call on government to address the Single Spine Salary Structure, especially those relating to the critical support premium for the remaining classes of workers in the non-teaching staff category”.
The Union calls on government to invest in the development of school infrastructure and address the facility gaps as a long term measure since the double tracking intervention is an interim measure.
We urge the non-teaching staff to give of their best to ensure that the teaching and learning environment and the surroundings of the schools are clean for good academic work”.
Source: GNA
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