GTEC Releases Research Allowances for 44 Colleges of Education

The Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) has taken significant steps to address the concerns of the Colleges of Education Teachers’ Association of Ghana (CETAG), aiming to bring an end to their two-month-long strike.

In a press release signed by the Acting Director General of GTEC, Prof Ahmed Jinapor Abdulai, the Commission announced that it has paid the top-up research allowance for 44 out of the 46 Colleges of Education.

The only exceptions are McCoy and Dambai Colleges, which have some technical issues that need to be resolved before the payment can be made. GTEC has also made progress in migrating institutions, with 20 already completed and the remaining 26 expected to be finished by the end of the month.

The Commission is working closely with the Education Minister, Dr Osei Adutwum, to resolve the issue of August salaries for CETAG members and will communicate a decision soon. Furthermore, GTEC is in talks with the Education Minister to secure financial clearance to recruit 2,500 additional teaching staff to support the current workload and facilitate the resumption of academic activities.

Contrary to calls to close down the schools, GTEC has not received any directives to do so and therefore advises that the schools remain open. CETAG, however, has emphasized that it will not end its strike until the government provides concrete evidence of implementing payments to its members, citing previous experiences of unfulfilled promises.

The strike, which began on June 14, was triggered by the government’s delay in implementing the National Labour Commission’s Arbitral Award Orders and negotiated service conditions. CETAG’s demands include the payment of one month’s salary for additional duties performed in 2022 and the application of agreed rates of allowances payable to public universities to deserving CETAG members.