The Executive Director of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), Duncan Amoah, has called on the government to pay teachers fair salaries and provide enough teaching and learning materials to improve the quality of education in the country.
During his interview today, he said the government must take teachers’ concerns about their working conditions seriously. He added that the government and teacher unions should continue to engage in meaningful discussions to prevent future strikes.
“Let’s pay teachers realistic incomes or salaries. Let’s pay for educational material. So we spend so much on education and at the end of the day, the economy does not throw out the kind of jobs that the educated ones would now require.
“The teachers have made their case, strongly and forcefully and I think that the government has also listened. I am hearing the strike has been called off. It is the right way to go. I think that a lot more dialogue and a lot more jaw-jaw should happen but then again, the goodwill at the table also would tell the unions whether the government is responsive or not.”
Duncan Amoah stressed that spending money on education should lead to better results for students and help prepare them for future job opportunities. He noted that teachers play an important role in the education system and deserve better pay and the necessary resources to do their jobs effectively.
He also welcomed reports that the teachers’ strike had been called off, describing it as a positive step. However, he urged both the government and teacher unions to keep talking and work together to resolve their differences.
According to him, continued dialogue and a willingness to listen to each other are key to building trust and preventing similar disagreements from disrupting teaching and learning in the future.
