Teachers in Kumasi return to empty classrooms

Although the striking teachers in the Kumasi Metropolis have returned to the classroom, school attendance is low.

A tour of some of the schools’ by the Ghana News Agency including the AME Zion, Atwere M/A Basic, T.I. Ahmadiyya ‘B’ and Amakom-Abrotia Basic showed the classrooms were virtually empty.

This made it difficult for the teachers to carry out effective academic work, except for final year Junior High Schools students, writing mock examinations.

Mr Isaac Ofori Boamah, Assistant Head teacher of the Ahmadiyya ‘B’, said only about 40 per cent of the school’s pupils of about 600 was present.

He was, however, confident that the situation would improve from Monday, March 21.

At Amakom-Abrotia, just about 100 out of the more than 600 pupils showed up.

The teachers, angered by what they said was the unfairness in the single spine salary structure boycotted the classrooms and vowed not to rescind the decision until they saw improvement in their salaries.

The government responded by announcing a 15 per cent retention allowance to them.

Source: GNA