Dansonman teachers abandon classrooms as strike action begins

Pupils of Dansoman "A" Cluster of school in the Ablekuma West Municipality were on Monday left stranded in their various classrooms as their teachers refused to show up.

As at the time the Ghana News Agency (GNA) got to the school’s premises at 0900 hrs, some pupils could be seen loitering while the majority sat idle in their classrooms with no teacher to guide them.

The few teachers who were present also sat idle in the classrooms and the staff common rooms while a number of them also moved about trying to maintain some level of discipline within the classrooms.

Dansoman A Cluster of School comprises five different schools namely: Saint Augustine Anglican School, Dansoman One School, Dansoman Four School, Tunga Islamic School and Dansoman Community School.

In an interview with GNA, Mr Kwesi Mensah, a teacher at the Saint Augustine Anglican School, said some of the teachers had reported to duty on the day, however, no teacher was going to teach in the classroom.

"We have reported to school today because the directive from our union leadership came over the weekend and we cannot live the pupils alone in the school, especially due to their age. They are young and may not have heard about the strike, even their parents might have not heard about it.

He said the teachers were waiting on their union leadership who were currently in a meeting with the Ghana Education Service to determine the next line of action.

Mr Mensah said they are likely to stay out of the school premises from Tuesday if GES failed to reach a consensus with the leadership of the teacher unions.

"On Tuesday, we are supposed to begin with the end of term examination. However, we are waiting for the directive from our union leaders and if they do not give us any information we will stay off the schools premises," he said.

On Thursday December 5, three teacher unions declared a nationwide strike effective Monday December 9 over what they described as legacy arrears owed some of the unions members spanning from 2012 to 2016.

The teacher unions included: the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT).