The leadership of the pre-tertiary teacher unions in the Upper West Region has served notice that its members will not call off their ongoing nationwide strike until the government produces verifiable proof that their longstanding grievances have been addressed.

Addressing a joint press conference at the NAGRAT Regional Secretariat in Wa, the three major teacher unions – the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), and the Pre-Tertiary Teachers Association of Ghana (PRETAG-Upper West) – reaffirmed their unwavering solidarity with their national leadership.

The unions declared that verbal assurances and unfulfilled timelines from the government and their employer would no longer suffice.

Reading the joint address, the Upper West Regional Secretary of GNAT, Ransford Owusu-Adjei, said the ongoing industrial action was anchored on three critical unresolved matters: the stalled negotiations on their expired Collective Agreement, the failure to place promoted teachers on their corresponding salary scales and pay their accumulated arrears, and the non-implementation of the agreed 20 per cent deprived-area allowance.

“Our position is clear: teachers have waited long enough. We have engaged, we have negotiated, we have exercised patience, we have listened to assurances, and we have heard promises. However, assurances alone can no longer resolve these matters,” Mr Owusu-Adjei stressed.

Touching on promotions, Mr Owusu-Adjei warned that a promotion that does not reflect in a teacher’s pay is meaningless.

“Let us be clear: a promotion without the corresponding financial implementation is incomplete. Teachers have earned these promotions and assumed the responsibilities attached to them. We are not prepared to accept another round of promises that payments are being processed. The era of promises without implementation must end. If the employer says teachers have been paid, show us the evidence,” he insisted.

He added that teachers serving in deprived communities had worked under difficult conditions for a decade while waiting for the 20 per cent allowance agreed in 2016 to be implemented.

In an interview following the press briefing, the Upper West Regional Chairman of NAGRAT, Dominic Yaw Tunti, described the situation on the ground as dire, cautioning parents to keep their children at home for their own safety.

“The effect is glaring. Every day we go through the schools to monitor, and the schools are deserted; we only see pupils and students there without teachers. Parents are complaining bitterly, and I agree with them that they should not allow their children to go to school because we do not know what may happen to them when there are no teachers to supervise them,” Mr Tunti stated.

Mr Tunti said the industrial action had become a last resort because dialogue without pressure had yielded no results.

“The only language government understands is strike. They promised that by August 31, we would be paid in September. September has ended, no show. If we keep on being in the classroom, they won’t pay us,” he said.

Adding her voice, the Regional Gender Desk Coordinator for NAGRAT, Suurweh Joan, expressed concern over the disruption to students’ education, noting that teachers took no pleasure in staying away from school.

“These children in the classroom are ours; they are our own children. We don’t enjoy leaving the classroom and being somewhere fighting for what we are supposed to fight for. These are our legitimate rights, and we should not have to struggle to agree with government,” Madam Joan said.

She appealed to the government to urgently address the three core issues so teachers could resume work without further delay.

The unions maintain that until teachers’ bank accounts reflect the rightful arrears and allowances, classrooms across the region will remain empty.