The National Council of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) recently staged a dramatic walkout during a meeting with Deputy Education Minister, Prof. Kingsley Nyarko. The protest stems from the government’s failure to deliver on its 2021 promise of providing each teacher with a laptop, despite having deducted 30% from teachers’ salaries for the “One Teacher One Laptop” initiative.

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Teachers across Ghana are frustrated as over 50,000 colleagues still haven’t received their laptops. This led to a disruptive scene at the annual GNAT national council meeting in Kumasi, where members booed the Deputy Minister and chanted, “Away! Away! No laptop no council meeting!” Consequently, the meeting's opening ceremony was interrupted.

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The GNAT, along with two other teacher unions, had previously gone on strike in May demanding improved conditions. The National Labour Commission had given the government until the end of June to fulfill its promise. However, as of July 22, the laptops are still not distributed.“National Labour Commission serving as a mediator gave government June ending to honour its part of the contract by supplying the outstanding.

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Today, July 22, there are still over 50,000 laptops left to be supplied,” Sarfo Sarpong added.The delay is affecting teaching and learning, especially in remote areas where teachers are struggling without the necessary technology. Teachers argue that the national curriculum is designed for digital use, making the absence of laptops a significant hindrance.

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They also point out the irony of students receiving tablets while teachers, who need them more, are left without.“One Teacher One Laptop” initiative after making the teachers pay up for them.“Over two and half years now, some of our members haven’t received their laptops.

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Mainly some teachers at the kindergarten, education officers, and the Arabic teachers and some primary school teachers,” District Chairman of GNAT-Afigya Kwabre, Sarfo Sarpong, spoke on behalf of the group.Some local leaders have faced hostility from frustrated teachers.“Some teachers have to do this manually. We claim to be digitalizing, what’s about the teaching space?.

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They’ve decided to give tablets to the students when we, teachers, need them for teaching,” Evans Temetey, District chairperson for Manya Krobo, said.Some of the local leaders have suffered near attacks from their members.“I went for BECE monitoring and the teachers attacked me, demanding where their laptops were.

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It is really embarrassing to have someone who has only spent 4-years in the teaching profession insult me who has been in this for close to two decades,” another district chairperson lamented.The GNAT has issued a one-week ultimatum for the government to start distributing the remaining laptops.

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