On Sunday April 7, 2024, the President of the Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT), King Ali Awudu was on the hot seat on the Hot Issues programme hosted by Keminni Amanor.
The discussions focused on Conditions of Service of teachers and their challenges.
Here are 6 things we learnt from the show:
1. ‘Are you sure you can take care of my daughter?’ – CCT Prez on what male teachers go through at the hands of prospective in-laws
President of the Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT) Ghana, King Ali Awudu, has bemoaned the plight of Ghanaian teachers, especially those within the basic school system, due to bad conditions of service.
He said male teachers suffer the most, especially in their quest to find their better halves.
According to Mr. Awudu, some prospective in-laws question the capacity of male teachers to take good care of their daughters.
“Teachers are really suffering, especially we men that are teachers. Sometimes, when they are even going to look for women for marriage, it becomes difficult. The in-laws will look at you and tell you that you are a teacher. Are you sure you can take care of my daughter?”, he told Keminni Amanor.
Asked whether teachers in Ghana earn up to GHC3,000, he said, “Yes.” But he quickly added that “not at all levels, depending on your rank and how long you’ve been in the service. For being in the service for 19 years and with a second degree, I earn GHC4,066.”
2. Funding basic education: 20% of FSHS budget enough to make a difference – Ali Awudu
According to the President of the Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT), Ghana, King Ali Awudu, just 20 percent of the money the government allocates for the Free Senior High School (FSHS) policy would be enough to make a substantial difference in the basic education in the country.
“If this government spends just 20% of the amount it spends on free Senior High School education on basic education, the situation would be different,” said Mr. Awudu.
He also criticised the free senior high school policy as being discriminatory in its approach.
Mr Awudu argued that parents should be made to pay for their wards’ boarding house fees under the policy.
“Government spends about five times the money it will spend on those in the boarding house more than those it spends on the day school.
“So in this case we are children of taxpayers, but a ground has not been given boarding status because there is not enough space and then we are spending more money on those in the boarding school and those that are day [students] that the SHS is supposed to be free, at the end of the day we will have to take money every single day from their parents to commute themselves in and out of school.”
“So, what we are saying is that if that is the case, the boarding should be made payable” Mr Awudu emphasised.
3. It’s unfortunate that teachers put in much efforts to teach but retire as paupers – Ali Awudu
Teachers are underpaid in Ghana, President of the Coalition of Concerned Teachers, Ghana, King Ali Awudu, has said.
He described the situation as unfortunate, given that teachers put in so much effort to impart knowledge to young ones yet retire as very poor people.
“Teachers all over Ghana are underpaid. It is unfortunate that teachers will put in their all to impart knowledge to younger generations and retire as paupers,” he said while speaking in an interview with TV3’s Keminni Amanor on Sunday, April 7.
4. ‘One Student, One Tablet’ initiative is good; extend it to basic schools as well – Ali wudu
The President of the Coalition of Concerned Teachers, Ghana, King Ali Awudu, wants the government to extend the ‘One Student, One Tablet’ initiative for senior high schools to basic schools as well.
He said that basic schools, which form the critical aspect of the education ladder, have not seen much investment.
He said this while expressing concerns that the government is paying too much attention to investments in senior high schools at the expense of basic schools.
He said “The government is not pumping so much money as it is being pumped into the senior high schools. When it comes to the SHS, the feeding that is given to them alone surpasses the money that is supposed to be paid to pupils in basic schools per annum. So, if you come to SHS the amount of money the government spends on feeding and other perishables per student, per day is just like the money that the government spends per pupil per year in the basic schools.
“Recently, you heard about the government’s wish to establish smart senior high schools and the purchase of some 1.3 million tablets at the cost of about 320 million dollars for SHS students, that is a lot of money and there is nothing wrong with that. The schools must be equipped but in every building the foundation is key. If the pupil is not well brought up at the Kindergarten, not well brought up at the primary, not well brought up the JHS, they will get to the SHS deficient,” the CCT President stressed.
5. Headteachers unable to voice out their frustrations for fear of being sacked – Ali Awudu
The President of the Coalition of Concerned Teachers, Ghana, King Ali Awudu, is worried about the frustrations that headteachers are going through in the line of their work.
He says the headmasters are unable to voice out their frustrations for fear of being dismissed.
According to him, “No headteacher can come and sit here and have this discussion with you, he will leave here and go and his dismissal letter will be waiting for him.”
In the area of teaching environment, he said “you go to the schools, and you are astonished as a Ghanaian, you ask whether this setting is qualified to be a classroom.”
Ali Awudu further expressed concerns about how the education sector in Ghana is being used for politics.
In his view, no sector in Ghana is used for politics more than the education sector.
This, he said, must stop.
“In this country, there is no sector that is used for politics more than the educational sector,” he said.
He further stated that headmasters are unable to voice out the frustrations they go through in the line of their work for fear of being dismissed.
Watch out for the next edition of Hot Issues.