A teacher group that is opposing the government’s one-teacher-one-laptop policy has been directed to seek clarity from its leadership.
This is because the Teacher Unions in the country practically negotiated everything in the government’s policy, hence must not be seen as an imposition.
The spokesperson at the Ministry of Education, Kwasi Kwarteng, revealed this on Beyi W’ano on Adom FM’s morning show, Dwaso Nsem.
According to Mr Kwarteng, the teachers are aware of all the terms and conditions regarding the procurement and payment processes as they were dully proposed by them with a consensus reached.
“They subscribed to the payment processes and they are aware so we will deduct the monies at all costs since it was their proposal and not the government,” he said.
Every teacher in public school from the kindergarten to the senior high level would receive a laptop computer each.
The government would pay 70% of the cost of the laptop, while each teacher pays the remaining 30%.
Meanwhile, a group calling itself Innovation Teachers Association has kicked against the initiative over what it described as an inflated cost of the laptops with unpopular brands.
It argues the government should have considered Acer, Del, or Toshiba which are popular brands instead of the Teachers Mate 1 (TM1) laptops.
The group has also petitioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice to probe the deal over what it described as inflated costs.
But reacting to the concerns, Mr Kwarteng said his outfit has no idea who the association members are, adding that they are not recognised.
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“NAGRAT, CCT and GNAT have gone through the test of time and have engaged in national issues and stood for the interest of teachers. The shift of blame that we [government] have bought a laptop and forced it on teachers is factually inaccurate.
“The government did not bring it up it was the unions but I will pardon them because I feel some people may not know the processes involved,” he charged.
