Accra, Ghana, April 12, 2020//-A Professor and Economist at the University of Cape Coast (UCC) has called on the Ghanaian government as a matter of urgency to help private school teachers affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) schools shutdown.
Prof John Gatsi who made the call argued that supporting private school teachers and non-teaching staff from the country’s Coronavirus Alleviation Programme would automatically exempt them from any need for supply of cooked food for these category of workers.
“Even if they are paid 75% of their salaries, they should be able to cope with the prevailing circumstances”.
“While all workers who are not earning incomes now need support, it is important for some provision to be made out of the Ghc1.2 billion approved by Parliament from the Stabilization Fund to finance the Coronavirus Alleviation Program to cater for private school teachers and non-teaching staff for the period probably until June 2020”, he stressed.
As part of the first general form of response to stop the spread of the deadly disease, the government shutdown schools (both private and public).
“Workers in public schools are sure of their salaries to maintain their livelihoods, but most private schools, especially those at the basic level received their March salaries but have no hope of receiving April salaries. Some proprietors have already informed their workers (teaching and non teaching) of their inability to pay April salaries”, Prof Gatsi emphasized.
This is due to the fact that payment of salaries in private schools is solely dependent on receipt of school fees mostly paid on installment basis”.
“Borrowing from my linguistics and science scholars in respect of morphology, the government in making provision for the payment of salaries of workers in public schools ought to consider some alleviation packages for their counterparts in private schools. This will not undercut the linkage in our understanding of morphology”, he said.
In both linguistics and biology, relationships are important because they (words, plants, etc.) are considered as belonging to the same family, according to him.
Prof Gatsi who is also the Dean of the UCC’s Business School noted: “Private basic schools operate in a sensitive sector just as the public sector and they complement each other to achieve national goals in education”.
Some of these private basic schools have been playing the complementary role for more than 30 years. In fact, about 90% of graduates from private Junior High Schools end up in public Senior High Schools in the country, he stated.
Currently, Ghana has recorded 408 confirmed COVID-19 cases with eight deaths. Major cities of the country such as Accra, Tema, Kasoa and Kumasi and its surrounding communities are under partial lockdown in a bid to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
African Eye Report
