Members of a group called All Teachers Alliance Ghana, have hit the streets to express their displeasure over laptops being distributed by the Ghana Education Service to teachers in the country.
According to them, the laptops are of low quality and not fit for teaching and learning.
They also want the government to halt the deduction of GH¢509 from their professional development allowance for the payment of the laptops.
One of the protesting teachers who spoke said, “we want the GES to refund the money they have deducted from our professional development allowance. If you want to resource a teacher, it is not the teacher who will pay for that. It is the employer who has to provide those materials.”
Another teacher also described the arrangement as one that would lead to more hardship for teachers.
“This is a barbaric arrangement that the other unions went into with the GES. They are not thinking about the welfare of the teachers at the grassroots. They went into an agreement that is not in the interest of teachers,” he said.
“GES and the three teachers unions have connived to deduct our monies without our consent. They have given us laptops that are of low quality. We already have laptops that are better and besides, if you want to give us laptops, we must not be the ones paying for it,” said another teacher.
The protestors, clad in red, held placards with statements such as “Pentium 1 laptop not fit for purpose”, and “Fix GES.”
One of the teachers said they want the GES to reverse the deduction and make the funds available to them.
“We just need our money back because we don’t want that Pentium 1 laptop that they have given us. The laptop is not good. We’ve had negative experiences with it. You cannot get a laptop for someone without consulting the person,” he said.
