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The Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG) has reaffirmed its decision to continue its ongoing strike, citing unresolved issues with the government, despite appeals from the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) for the action to be suspended.
CETAG, which declared the strike on Thursday, January 2, 2025, over unmet demands, maintains that the government has yet to fulfil its financial commitments to address their grievances, particularly with regard to compensation and working conditions.
In response to the strike, GTEC’s Director-General, Prof. Ahmed Jinapor Abdulai, criticised the timing of the industrial action, calling it counterproductive. He urged CETAG to call off the strike to allow for continued discussions. In a statement, he reiterated GTEC’s commitment to resolving the teachers’ concerns through dialogue.
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Despite GTEC’s appeal, Maxwell Bunu, President of CETAG, stood firm in his stance, declaring that the strike would not be called off until significant progress is made.
Speaking on Eyewitness News on Citi FM, Bunu stated that the government’s financial promises had not been translated into concrete action, making it impossible for CETAG to end the strike at this time.
He explained, “What we saw today, probably if they were to show those documents to us, the commitments they had made earlier, we wouldn’t have been where we are. It has always been documentation and promises; we have not seen any full action.”
Bunu also made it clear that CETAG’s decision to continue the strike was a result of the government’s insufficient response to their concerns. He added that while the association could moderate certain elements of the strike, a complete suspension was not an option without substantive progress.
“We’re not calling off this strike; the best we can do is moderate the elements of the strike. For us to just call it off, I don’t think that is feasible,” Bunu said.
The CETAG president went further to accuse the government of insensitivity towards their concerns, suggesting that the government had failed to acknowledge the significance of their demands. He emphasised that the lack of concrete financial actions to support teachers in Colleges of Education had led to frustration among the members of the association.
“We need to brief the council about what transpired today, and the council will take a decision from there,” Bunu added, hinting that CETAG’s council would deliberate on the situation and decide the next steps based on the outcome of the discussions.
