The government is not being fair to newly educated teachers sent to various service stations from February 2022, according to the All Teachers Alliance Ghana (ATAG), a teacher organization.
Teachers, according to ATAG, have yet to obtain their identity numbers, much alone go to the Ministry of Finance to have their fingerprints taken for future salary payment.
The group criticized the failure of all attempts to capture the attention of government in a statement signed by General Secretary Albert Dadson Amoah.
"Unfortunately, we have left these young professionals to suffer in the face of the country's broader challenges."
"Some of them are struggling to make ends meet on a daily basis, while others are relying on excessive borrowing to get by," the statement said.
They bemoaned how the situation is impacting them both mentally and monetarily, as well as their mental health.
"Many of these young professionals are starving at their various stations, and the amount of economic and psychological pain they are subjected to is intolerable." It's unfortunate that teacher unions have kept silent while knowing how difficult things are for these students.
"Newly educated instructors have been paid three months after postings since 2017, so what's up this time?" the statement wondered.
To them, the government's appeal for quality education would become a mirage if it does not address the sector's critical concerns with the requisite haste.
"If we treat teachers with such disrespect, educational policy and infrastructural development will not be enough to have the essential beneficial impact."
"When teachers are considered as an afterthought in policy formation and execution, all of the government's excellent efforts toward reaching world-class educational quality and meeting the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 will crumble," the organization said.
With all due respect, they have therefore urged to the Ghana Education Service and the Ministry of Education to urgently address the plight of these freshly educated teachers who have been left despondent and suffering in their respective stations.