Public School Teachers To Be Paid According To Number Of Days They Teach

Deputy Minister in-charge of Pre-tertiary Education, Alex Kyeremeh says public school teachers will be paid according to the number of days they show up to teach. 

According to him, the move is geared towards reducing the rate of teacher absenteeism in public schools across the country. 

Mr Kyeremeh said the Ministry of Education is working closely with the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to make the initiative a success. 

Mr Kyeremeh also said although there is some level of teacher-absenteeism, the World Bank and UNICEF ratings of Ghana as the country with the highest teacher absenteeism is not entirely correct. 

Although he insisted that the situation “arguably is a global attitude,” he explained that “some [teachers] will not like to go to school because…they have additional jobs to do. If you come to bigger towns, some teachers are traders, some are farmers; they have different business attached to the teaching profession.”

“Another factor is that if teachers are not coming and they are not sanctioned, it’s a complete disincentive to teachers who are also ready to go to school every day,” the deputy minister intimated.

Mr Kyeremeh said the Minister of Education, Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang had initiated a programmed dubbed ‘zero tolerance to teacher absenteeism‘ which begun last year, to clamp down on such recalcitrant teachers.
He said “I know some teachers have been relieved of their positions, some teachers have also forfeited their salaries for the number of days they’ve absented themselves from school.”

Meanwhile, the Executive Director of Child's Rights International, Bright Appiah, says government can better address the problem of absenteeism if it involves stakeholders in education. 

Mr Appiah thinks the experience of these stakeholders together with government's effort will bring improvement to the education sector. 

In a related development, a 24 year old teacher, Nana Yaw Adu –Larbi, has been jailed 17 years by an Accra Circuit Court for defiling a five year old kindergarten two pupil. 

Adu-Larbi denied the offence but was found guilty after trial. 

He was accordingly convicted and sentenced by the Court presided over by Sedina Agbemava. 

According to the facts of the case, Adu-Larbi, was a teacher in the victim's school when he took advantage of her on January 14, this year. 

The victim, who after close of school was waiting for the school bus to pick her home, visited the washroom to urinate. 

Adu-Larbi followed the girl and defiled her in the urinal. 

He warned her not to disclose her ordeal to anyone or he would lash her. 

The girl bled from the act. Her mother who was not at home when she returned from school was later informed about the daughter's ordeal. 

The victim was then sent to the Lapaz Community Hospital, where the doctor, after examining her established that she had been defiled. 

The victim upon interrogation confirmed the incident and mentioned Adu-Larbi as the culprit. 

The victim was later referred to the Police Hospital for treatment while Adu-Larbi was processed for Court. 

GBC