Ghana National Association of Teachers ( GNAT) one of the teacher unions in Ghana that has large number of teachers. The core of GNAT mandate is to improve the welfare of its members. In fact, there are others vital roles GNAT plays of which most its members are not aware off. In this masterpiece, I will be walking you through these roles.
1. All Teacher's Fund loans are insured against death and therefore if a member is on a Teachers Fund loan and dies, the remaining amount to be paid will be written off and the member next of kin is entitled to all the member contributions plus returns of investment on his/her contribution as well as group solidarity payments from the Teachers Fund.
2. Teachers Fund does not deal with middlemen or do backdoor payments of members benefits because once a member's form is submitted to the Fund by his District Secretary, the benefits will be paid in full to the member and so any member who entered into any deal with so-called connection man is doing so at his own risk.
3. Teachers Fund gives top-up loans to Members who have affordability to pick more and this means that there will be two different Teachers Fund loan deductions on the member's payslip.
4. Teachers Fund also allows members to refinance their existing loans and this means that the member will apply for a new loan and use part of the new loan to pay off an existing loan so that the old deduction will stop and the new one will start deduction, but Teacher's Fund does not pay off loans of other companies.
5. Members can pay off their loans into Teacher's Fund accounts through bank account numbers provided by Teachers Fund on the pay-off statements upon request by members.
6. GNAT gives 'thank you' packages of *GH¢ 2,500* to members who go on retirement or relatives of deceased members from the dues, and this amount is more than ten years of dues paid by the member.
7. GNAT gives bursaries in the form of financial support every year to selected female teachers from all the GNAT Districts who are pursuing education-related courses at tertiary institutions.
8. GNAT offers legal services to members whose cases are directly linked to the teaching profession.
9. GNAT has a voluntary insurance scheme for members which is known as the 'GNAT Heritage Cashback Plan' where subscribers are deducted GHC 39.00 every month and are entitled to a lump-sum payment of *GH¢ 25,000.00* upon demise or incapacitation irrespective of the number of months deducted and when the policy matures after ten years of membership, all the member's contribution plus 20% profit of the contribution is paid back to them.
10. GNAT owns a hospital in Accra known as the 'Sweden Cancer Foundation' which provides free treatment of cancer of any type to all members, their spouses, and 3 children.
11. GNAT does not give end-of-year packages to members but what GNAT gives to members is an annual souvenir and this year, GNAT is giving three yards of the GNAT 90th Anniversary cloth to every member which most of the District have started distributing already.
12. GNAT organizes free periodic professional development courses in the Regions and Districts for members such as the *GNAT Canadian Teachers Federation Programs to sharpen members Pedagogical Skills* for effective delivery in the classrooms.
13. GNAT organizes courses every year in the Regions and Districts n the promotion aptitude test which helps participants to pass the exams with ease leading to automatic increase in salaries because GNAT believes in teaching members how to fish than giving them fish.
14. GNAT organizes orientation programs in the Regions and Districts for all newly posted teachers every year to keep them abreast of the code of conduct, conditions of service, and related matters in GES so that they will not put up some behaviors that will find them conflicting with the demands of the job.
15. GNAT gives financial assistance to members who are met by disasters such as sicknesses, fire outbreaks, accidents among others.
16. The Fund was established in the year 1998 with a monthly contribution of Ten Ghana pesewas by members. The Fund currently has a membership of over 200,000 and as a result of proper management and commitment by members, the Fund has a net value of over *GH¢ 2,000,000,000.00* as of the end of the year 2021.
17. No executive member or staff member of GNAT takes an interest-free loan from the Fund.
18. The interest rate of the Fund from September 2020 up to date is 16% per annum and a member can pick a loan up to *GH¢ 70,000.00* depending on affordability.
19. The monthly contribution of a member does not determine how much a member can pick from the Fund but management can increase the contribution before granting the loan if they find it necessary.
20. A member does not have to exit GNAT before he can exit the Fund and collect his money if he finds it necessary
21. All Executive members of GNAT are classroom teachers or workers at educational institutions and they are not paid salaries by GNAT.
22. All decision-making powers in GNAT are only in the hands of the executive members.
23. All full-time staff of GNAT (Secretaries) as teachers in the classroom or educational institutions workers before they were appointed by GNAT through transparent competitive interviews.
24. All GNAT staff are paid salaries by GNAT from the dues we pay and they have the same salary structure as their colleagues in the classroom
25. All GNAT staff do not take part in decision making in GNAT and they do not also have voting rights in GNAT but they implement the decisions that are taken by delegates at conferences or executives at meetings
26. No GNAT Executive is given an official car by GNAT except the GNAT National President.
27. All GNAT Executives are elected at biennial or quadrennial Delegates conferences.
28. All GNAT members are qualified to contest for positions at the conferences.
29. GNAT presents income and expenditure statements with audit reports to delegates at the conferences to ensure sound accountability to members.
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