End of strike and end of term

Today, the national teachers strike in Ghana was suspended. Even though the government has not met the demands of the union regarding salary and allowances, the union says they're suspending the strike so that negotiations can take place. They cite a federal regulation that bars negotiation during a strike.

So for the first time during our trip, all the teachers were back at Archbishop Porter Girls Secondary School. And it was the last day of the term. Forms one and two have finished their exams and will be going home for vacation in the morning. Forms three and four are still on campus awaiting the start of their external, West African exams, which will go from April7th through May 13th and will determine students' futures at universities and technical schools.

Bonnee and I got to be part of the final school assembly and the first post-strike staff meeting today. A few things about the assembly surprised me. All 1600 girls were packed into the assembly hall to hear from the headmistress. One of her topics was the non-payment of school fees, which are normal here even for government-supported schools like this one. She went so far as to call out the names of the most serious debtors and have them walk to the front of the room. Yesterday, I noticed a posted list of all the students' names and how much they owe. Our data privacy laws in the US would never allow either of those ways of publicizing financial information.

The other, more pleasant surprise was the way the headmistress recognized the hard work of the teachers and their right to strike. All the teachers were there and the students gave them long and load applause at the urging of the headmistress. She even went so far as urging the students who have parents in government to speak to their parents on the teachers' behalf.

The faculty meeting in the staff room was a little more discordant. There were conflicts about money. Because the government decided that both 3rd and 4th form students would be taking their final exams this year, extra teaching was needed to catch the 3rd form students up. So all teachers were asked to take on 2-3 classes on top of their usual load. The school's PTA agreed to collect an extra fee from students in order to pay teachers for these additional hours, but many students--more than half--haven't paid. So the teachers have been working harder with no extra pay up to this point, and there was a lot of discussion in the meeting about how to collect the extra fees.

Another point of contention in the meeting involved the headmistress' information that overseeing exams over the next few weeks will be compulsory for teachers. In the past, it was voluntary, and the teachers who oversaw exams didn't see their pay for it until up to 12 months later, if at all. The teachers were frustrated about the requirement to work during the exams without a guarantee of payment.

After the meeting, one of the English teachers told me that there's a saying in Ghana that teachers will receive their reward in heaven. She followed it up by saying, "Of course, we're not sure we'll be in heaven to get the rewards, so we would like them now."

Below are the faculty meeting in the staff room, me with Lydia, an English teacher, and the headmistress addressing the assembly.