Speak up on challenges – GNAT urges school heads

The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), wants authorities to end what it terms needless intimidation meted out to school heads who speak on challenges confronting their institutions.

GNAT says the intimidation is affecting teaching and learning in many Senior High Schools (SHS) across the country.

Speaking at the 60th Anniversary celebration of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Second Cycle Schools in Koforidua, the President of GNAT, Reverend Isaac Owusu said such practices must cease.

“When heads who are managers of the secondary schools want to speak on challenges, we see those in authorities attacking and intimidating them. The Minister is saying that, we should produce assertive students but the agony is we can not have tamed headteachers producing assertive students. We believe that, the era of intimidation is over.”

Recently, issues of food shortage, inadequate supply of teaching and learning materials and other challenges have hit second-cycle schools.

The problems have largely been blamed on the implementation of the Free Senior High School Policy.

However, there have been concerns that school heads are being intimidated in order not to make public the operational difficulties facing the schools.

Some frustrated school heads who could not bear with the challenges and made comments in the media space were dealt with to prevent their colleagues from doing same.