The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has expressed worry about the continuous reports of teachers drowning in various parts of the Volta Lake while on their way to teach.
Its National Executives who embarked on a fact finding tour of some island communities along the Volta lake where teachers are stationed, called for a collaborative effort to deal with the recurrent drowning of teachers and pupils.
As part of measures to ensure the safety of its members, the association has donated 251 life jackets to be distributed to teachers in the Krachi East and West Districts of the Oti Region.
The jackets, according to the association, were procured to ensure the safety of teachers who commute to riverine communities to deliver their duties.
At a ceremony to present the life jackets, General Secretary of GNAT, Mr Thomas Tanko Musah said the initiative is aimed at helping teachers observe basic precautionary measures of wearing life jackets during their daily trips across the lake to teach at their stations.
He said the presentation which follows an earlier one done in 2022 is expected to benefit teachers in about 36 community basic schools in the two districts.
Alarming
Mr Musah who described the frequency of the drowning incidents as alarming, said the last of such incidents was recorded in May, when a teacher stationed at Agamkope Island drowned on the lake after the boat he was travelling on from school capsized.
Questioning the government’s objective to provide equal access to education the General Secretary said, the association was alarmed to learn that about half of island communities in the Krachi East District do not have schools.
The National President of GNAT, Rev Isaac Owusu, lamented the challenges teachers go through in the riverine and underserved communities.
Rev Owusu who described the challenges as discouraging, appealed for an urgent solution to the constant drowning.
“These challenges are really discouraging our teachers, and we urge the government to show commitment in resolving them,” he said.
The GNAT President indicated that the association will continue the life jackets distribution in risky riverine areas of the Ashanti, Eastern and Greater Accra Regions where teachers are stationed.
The exercise he said “is to protect the lives of teachers who cross water bodies like the Volta Lake daily to teach.”
Experiences
Recounting how he almost lost his life during a six-hour journey on the Volta Lake to an island community in the Krachi West District, a teacher, Prosper K. Addo said he had no life jacket on when the incident occurred.
For his part, the Assistant Headteacher of Kudorkope D/A Primary School, Ransford Appiah, shared his experience of how he and his colleagues commute across the Volta lake from Dambai to Kudorkope almost at the perils of their lives just to go and teach.
He mentioned that hundreds of teachers go through this ordeal in their quest to deliver their mandated duties across the length and breadth of the country.
While a few survive these incidents, there have been reports of some losing their lives, and leaving their families behind, because they had no protective gear on.