Some teachers have bemoaned the fact that the three Teacher unions Ghana National Association of Teachers GNAT, National Association of Graduate Teachers NAGRAT, and Coalition of Concern Teachers Ghana CCTGH has been able to negotiate with the government on the amount Teachers are to pay for this one teacher one laptop initiative without any engagement with their members then they are capable of negotiating for Teachers uniform without also consulting them too.
Although most teachers have lauded the initiative but the amount is outweighing the specs of the machine the union has negotiated for. Most of the Teachers are of the view that the union leaders should have consulted them to seek their views on the kind of Laptops that will have fit the class purpose. But it looks as if the shaded negotiation that the union leaders are yearning for made them to negotiate in secrete.
The fact that the president of NAGRAT publicly stated that Teachers have no duty to tell the government the brand of Laptops they need and where the money should be deducted from also means that the union leaders can also use the 2022 Teachers professional allowance (PDA) to negotiate for Teachers uniform on behalf of the Teachers without their knowledge.
Teachers were told that the professional allowance is to enable them to attend professional courses and workshops to develop their professional skills. But last year Teachers’ professional allowance, 8.33% was deducted from it for Teachers’ license fees. This year 30% is to be deducted from the professional allowance to buy Laptops for Teachers. Now does it mean that the professional allowance of Teachers is not going to be used for them to sharpen their professional skills again? This directly means that 2022 own about 50% of it will be deducted from it for something else or it will not be paid at all.
