Colleges of Education must stay open — GTEC

The Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) has directed all the 46 colleges of education to remain open until further notice.

The directive comes in the wake of calls from various stakeholders, including the leadership of the affected students, for the colleges to be closed until striking members of the Colleges of Education Teachers’ Association of Ghana (CETAG) return to the classroom.

But GTEC, in a statement issued last Friday and addressed to all the principals of public colleges of education, said: “As of today, August 16, 2024, the commission has not reached such a conclusion (to close the schools), neither has it been directed by the Minister of Education to do same”.

The letter, which was signed by the Director-General of GTEC, Prof. Ahmed Jinapor, outlined what the commission had been doing to address the concerns of the aggrieved CETAG members.

Prof. Jinapor stated that so far, the commission had migrated 20 of the public teacher training institutions to the level of the traditional university as of August 16, 2024, and was hopeful it would complete all 46 colleges of education before the end of August.

Indeed, one of the demands of the striking teachers is for them to be migrated to the same level as all traditional universities.

“In addition, the top-up of the research allowance has been paid to 44 colleges of education except McCoy and Dambai, which have some technical issues to be resolved,” the statement said.

“Additionally, the all-year-round payment, which is also an issue of contention, has been initiated on the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) to enable the Ministry of Finance to issue the release letter and specific warrant for payment to be effected as soon as possible,” the letter said.

It said regarding the payment of salaries for August, “the commission will communicate directives on the subject once same has been received from the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum”.