Recruit Non-Teaching Staff for Double Track System - - Tewu Urges Government

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The Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU), has urged the government urgently to recruit non-teaching staff in the light of the double track system which will increase student population.

A statement issued by TEWU and signed by Augustine Saakuur Karbo, General Secretary, Teachers and Educational Workers' Union in Accra yesterday said: "TEWU is very much informed that with the free Senior High School, the student numbers have ballooned and with this double tracking system, the number is going to further balloon, and this is going to affect the workload of various workers on the campuses of the SHS."

The statement said: "It is unacceptable to see few staff providing services in the area of sanitation, cooking, driving, library, security, etc in a situation of huge increase in student numbers under the free SHS. For instance how possible is it to see one or two security men taking care of large school campuses with increased number of students and facilities which need to be protected."

TEWU according to the statement was aware of situations where some heads of schools were compelled to verbally convert other workers who were not originally employed for security jobs to take up such duties because that gap has to be filled.

"TEWU is a major partner in the development process to deliver or provide quality education in our country. So we demand mutual respect and recognition of the non-teaching staff in the school environment, it is not only teachers who are to impact on students," the statement said.

The behaviour of the non-teaching and teaching staff according to the statement go a long way to reflect on moral, discipline and character of students.

"In fact, you have the non-teaching staff interacting with students in one way or the other, as they undertake various activities such as sanitation, security, catering, driving, library services administrative functions, accounting functions, laboratory services, etc. to ensure conducive environment for both teaching and learning on the various campuses. Without adequate security, the teacher cannot have the sound mind to teach and the students too cannot have the sound mind to learn, if there is no food for the students to eat, they will be hungry and as the old adage goes, "a hungry man is an angry man," the statement said

The statement said the major issues relating to the Single Spine Salary Structure, especially those relating to the critical support premium for the remaining classes of workers in the non-teaching staff category needed to be addressed with dispatch.

"TEWU have held series of news conferences and sent petition to the Minister of Education on this matter and have even gone further to petition the presidency when the opportunity came to meet the President on this major policy of the double tracking intervention. We would not want to be pushed into taking any action which can undermine the free SHS and the associated double track intervention," the statement said.

The statement said: "We urge management of the GES and the Ministry of Education to look at these critical areas and give it a serious attention in their consideration for the recruitment of additional hands in making the double track intervention successful. We urge the Ministry of Finance to prioritise the financial clearance for the recruitment decision to be made."

"We therefore humbly appeal to the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo to use his good offices and his fatherly personality, to address this major concern for the union, so that the remaining classes of TEWU members who were left behind and have not been captured for the critical support premium under the Single Spine Salary Structure can also benefit," the statement said.

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