The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) staged a dramatic walkout on Deputy Education Minister Prof. Kingsley Nyarko and their national leadership during their annual council meeting in Kumasi.
The protest was sparked by the government’s failure to deliver on its promise to provide each teacher with a laptop, despite deducting 30% from their salaries in 2021 for the “One Teacher One Laptop” initiative.
GNAT members expressed their outrage and frustration over the unfulfilled promise, chanting “Away! Away! No laptop no council meeting!” and preventing Prof. Nyarko from delivering his speech.
The initiative, meant to equip all teachers with laptops, has left over 50,000 teachers without the promised devices.
District Chairman Sarfo Sarpong highlighted the concerns of many, noting that some teachers, particularly those in kindergarten, education officers, Arabic teachers, and primary school teachers, are yet to receive their laptops.
He emphasized that the absence of these laptops is severely impacting teaching and learning, especially in remote areas.
The walkout follows a nationwide strike by GNAT and two other teacher unions in May, demanding better service conditions.
Despite the National Labour Commission’s mediation and June deadline for the government to fulfill its part of the contract, the promised laptops have not been delivered.
As of July 22, over 50,000 laptops remain undistributed, prompting district chairpersons like Evans Temetey to express frustration over the government’s priorities.
“We claim to be digitalizing, but what about the teaching space? They’ve decided to give tablets to students when we, teachers, need them for teaching,” he said.
The frustration has led to near-attacks on local leaders by their members, demanding the promised laptops.
GNAT has given the government a one-week ultimatum to begin distributing the outstanding laptops.
