CPD Allowance Negotiated for Teachers, Not ASPED Officers – Teacher Unions Reaffirm.

CPD Allowance Negotiated for Teachers, Not ASPED Officers – Teacher Unions Reaffirm.

The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), and Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana (CCT-GH) have jointly clarified that the Continuous Professional Development (CPD) allowance was exclusively negotiated for professional teachers under the Ghana Education Service (GES), and not for officers of the Assessment and School Placement Secretariat (ASPED).

This response follows recent concerns raised by some ASPED officers who called for inclusion in the CPD allowance package. The unions, however, insist that the allowance was secured through collective bargaining solely for classroom teachers to support their ongoing professional growth and training needs.

In a joint statement, the unions emphasized that ASPED officers, while working within the education sector, are not classified as teaching staff and therefore fall outside the scope of the CPD allowance framework. They cautioned against any attempt to blur these boundaries, noting that such moves could undermine the purpose for which the allowance was established.

The CPD allowance, introduced to encourage and support teacher participation in mandatory in-service training and capacity-building workshops, is part of a broader strategy to raise teaching standards and improve learning outcomes across basic and secondary schools.

GNAT, NAGRAT, and CCT-GH have urged the Ministry of Education to remain committed to the original intent of the policy and to ensure that only qualified teaching professionals under GES benefit from the negotiated allowance. They also reiterated their commitment to defending the interests of all teachers and ensuring that negotiated benefits are implemented faithfully and without interference.