GNAT to hold third Quadrennial Conference

01-01-10

THE Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) will hold its third Quadrennial and 50th National Delegates Conference from Sunday, January 3, to Friday, January 8, 2010.
The conference, which will be held on theme, “ Investing in People to Achieve Quality Education By 2015”, is expected to be officially opened by President John Evans Atta Mills.
The conference, to be held at the Auditorium of the University of Ghana Business School, will be attended by about 750 delegates and observers.
Representatives of some sister teacher organisations, including the Canadian Teachers Federation (CTF), the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU), would attend the conference, the General Secretary of GNAT, Mrs Irene Duncan Adanusah, said at a press conference in Accra.
“The National Delegates Conference is the highest decision-making body of the GNAT and it is the organ that formulates policies for the governance of the association. It is held every four years and it is at this forum that major policy decisions affecting education, the teaching profession and other socio-economic issues are discussed and the necessary decisions taken,” she said.
She said the current conference would take up issues on the review of the association’s development plan and action plans for the next five years, the implementation of the National Pensions Act, the New Education Act (Act 778) and the Single Spine Salary Structure.
Mrs Duncan-Adanusah said the keynote address would be based on the chosen theme and it would be delivered by Mr Fred van Leewuen, the General Secretary of Education International.
She said there would be roundtable discussions which would be held in three stages, noting that the topics on the ‘National Pensions Act: Implementation Challenges for Employee Organisations’, would be led by Mr Daniel Aidoo Mensah of the Pension Commission and chaired by Dr T.A. Bediako, also of the Pension Commission.
She said one major item on the programme of the conference would be the election of national officers of the association, saying that those were President, Vice-President, Treasurer and the First and Second Trustees.
Mrs Duncan-Adanusah said the officers to be elected would undergo investiture at the closing ceremony.
“During this ceremony, selected GNAT activists (numbering 40) and some devoted supporting staff would be rewarded. The ceremony will be performed by the Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo,” she said.
Meanwhile, Bay Port Financial Services has donated items worth GH¢24,000 to GNAT in support of the conference.
They are 1,500 Polo shirts, 500 T-shirts and 2,000 caps.