Teacher Insurance Policy, Strange And Fraudulent

Written by Derbie Raphael

As elders in my village communicate to the wise youngsters using proverbs, I learned one powerful wise saying that constantly gives me confidence and makes me bold enough to voice my opinions without any modicum of fear. It goes this way, a man must not swallow his cough because he fears to disturb the sleep of others. This proverb has nurtured a spirit in me that bars me from being a victim of cowardice but rather makes me a responsible spectator in the game of courage, provided I am fighting a legitimate course. It is on this score that I aired my views on the single-handedly decision made by government to illegally and preposterously deducts Ghc10.00 from teacher's salary without any prior notice.

It is abundantly clear that the integrity of teachers for some times now, has been thrown into the gutters in this country. In fact, the intelligence of teachers has been relegated to the background even to the extend that government thinks we teachers lack common sense to decide for ourselves, what is good and what is not good. This is an indictment on our integrity and must be condemned in no uncertain terms.

The Nana Addo led government has decided to impose an insurance policy on teachers. A policy christened "SIC Life Insurance Policy", has this month appeared on the payslips of teachers in country. A policy teachers are unaware of has attracted Ghc10.00 deduction from the salary of teachers. We are not privy to any information regarding this policy only to suffer such an unexpected deduction at the end of June. What is more disrespecting than this?

It is still fresh in my memory that government attempted imposing same policy on National Service Personnel but it was loudly rejected. It is therefore amazing that similar policy has been smuggled into the salary of teachers.

It is common knowledge that the concerns of anybody you want to do business with is sought before any transaction can be effective but that is not the case on this matter. It is a known fact that teachers in this country are not children. In fact, we are mature and reasonable enough to decide what we want and what we don't want. Why then does this government decided to think and went ahead to decide for us on what  they think is good for them? What is good for the goose is good for the gander is never appreciated a little by teachers on this matter. So if government thinks the policy is good for them, the president should impose it on his MPs and the ministers and not teachers. This is a blanket insult to we the teachers. This is because government thinks that teachers are so stupid that if they sought our consent, we will not be able to see the goodness of the insurance package they have for us so they went ahead to impose the policy on us. That is unfortunate!

Why must this government thinks that teachers are foolish and unreasonable even to the extend that we can not decide for ourselves what is good? Mr. President, you and your education minister should stop belittling and  underrating teachers. If it is arrogance that is making you think that we are inferior, undo that arrogance and give due respect to teachers. Of course, some teachers may be as young as your children are and not as foolish as they are as you think. Yes, this may sound disrespectful but that is the bitter truth.

I am perplexed. Since when does this government have interest in the success of the Ghanaian teacher? If indeed you are committed to seeing teachers succeed, why didn't you first of all clear all the arrears government owes teachers? You rather resorted to lying to the good people of this country that your government has cleared all outstanding arrears owed teachers. This is a palpable lies. As I speak, most of my colleagues including me have not had our arrears paid, yet Bawumia was seen shamelessly lying in open camera that all outstanding arrears has been cleared. He said this without shame just because he wanted to score a cheap political point.

In all sincerity, this government has denigrated teachers for long that we can no longer sit aloof and allow them to proceed on that tangent. In any case, Mr. President and the education minister, you have not funded our education why then do you think it is appropriate you do such a thing without our consent? Some of us will not allow you and your government to play on our intelligence.

Yes, I am aware some of your people will rain insults on me but that will not bar me from saying the truth. Others will even say that I am peddling untrue story but that will not wash. Of course that has been their behaviour and I expect nothing different.

Frankly speaking, some of us will not sit down and allow this government to proceed on the direction they are going. We are wise enough to decisively make decisions on our own. So if this government thinks they have something good for us they should communicate to us so that we take a unanimous decision on it before you can go ahead to do whatever.

In fact, government must know that the teachers' salary is for the individual teachers hence government has no business with whatever teachers use their salary for. Most teachers have already joined a number of insurance companies. Why then has government jumped into this hasty presupposition that their is better for teachers?

It must be made clear to this government that teachers' salary should not be seen as the source of funding for your premature Free Senior High policy. Teachers' salary must not also be the source of funding for nurses and teacher trainees allowances. I don't think somebody has compelled you to implement these policies when you indeed know that you cannot fund them. In any case, there is a saying in my local language that he who is still at the base of a tree trying to climb up, cannot fall and breaks his or her leg. You still have a better chance to rescind your decision on these policies if you think you are being impeded with lack of funds. Ghanaians are discerning enough to accept your humbleness and sincerity and will in no doubt support you to execute those policies that you can execute successfully.

Going forward, l want to passionately use this medium to call on leaders of the teacher unions to come out profoundly and clear their name from this uncharitable and unfair treatment meted out on their members. If some of us get to know that our leaders are in bed with this indifferent, callous and ungrateful government to champion this illegality, we will not hesitate descending heavily on you. A government that is not committed to paying teachers arrears but is rather interested in extorting the little that is paid to teachers at the end of the month has no good intention for us. In fact, the gross mismatch between their interest in our success and their failure to pay all arrears leaves no doubt that the package in their insurance policy is white elephant and an advertent attempt to intelligently rob teachers in broad day light.

For far too long, we have allowed the element of morose delectation and unsympathetic joy to put us into perpetual hardship. We become financially incapacitated almost every time not because we don't know how to use our money but because of some of these illegal and preposterous deductions from our salary.

Government must refund all the money deducted from teachers salary in the name of their SIC Life insurance policy. Failure to refund and rescind this weird  policy will egg teachers to rise against the entrench position this government has taken. That probably will draw the government attention to the maturity and the uncommon level of intelligence of the Ghanaian teacher.

In conclusion, I am by this article calling on government to refund all the money deducted from our June salary. Government should also reverse his decision to impose such policy on us. I suggest government pre-inform teachers on some of these things to get our concerns so that a unanimous decision can be reached.

Also, leaders of teachers' unions should be proactive. You should be seen to be on top of issues. We will move for the impeachment of any leader/s who is/are caught being in bed with government to carry out this brilliant robbery strategy against teachers.

derbieraphael@yahoo.com
0240371356