National President for the Teacher Trainees Association of Ghana (TTAG), Jonathan Dzunu, has described as terrible, the conditions students are subjected to on the campuses of various teacher training colleges in the country.
Mr Dzunu revealed that due to the industrial strike action by Colleges of Education Non-Teaching Staff Association of Ghana (CENTSAG), students have been forced to fend for themselves. He indicated that to make matters worse, allowances for students have not been paid for “seven months” now, questioning where authorities expect students to get the money to feed themselves.
“As we speak, the situation is very terrible on the various campuses. We’ve gotten to the stage where level 400’s are writing their exams and the CENTSAG is embarking on strike, which means that the student will go into the examination hall without food. The level 300’s, who are on campus, are also facing the same challenge. The students are being asked to go and feed on their own. How will they feed on their own?”
Jonathan Dzunu
Citing the Bagabaga College of Education for instance, Mr Dzunu explained that he has been reliably informed that students at a point had to offer help to some of the kitchen staff in the school to prepare their meals.
“I think we shouldn’t get to this stage. I was equally informed that students were called to a meeting and were informed that we’ve gotten to a stage where you’d have to bring some money so that you can get people to come and prepare food for us. Where will we get the money from? We are very clear on that point that no student should pay any money. The students are not in the position to hire anyone to come and cook… Students that are supposed to be in the classroom are now moving into the market to look for food. I think if something is there, it should be done now, as early as possible”.
Jonathan Dzunu
The National President for TTAG equally called on the relevant leadership to act as soon as possible to get the issues resolved. If issues are not handled appropriately, Mr Dzunu emphasized that the academic calendar will be distorted.
Resolving issues of CENTSAG
Commenting on the position of other stakeholders on the matter, Mr Dzunu noted that he has spoken to a few who gave their word that meetings will be organised as soon as possible to ensure issues are resolved. Nonetheless, he expressed that the authorities are allowing the matter to fester, thereby causing undue delay in resolving it. Considering the “urgency of the situation”, Mr Dzunu proposed that actions must be taken now.
“From CENTSAG, they are not coming back until their issues are resolved. When I spoke to someone from Fair Wages, they told me they have plans in place to meet CENTSAG as early as possible. But my question is that: how soon will that be? We were expecting that there should have been a meeting today because CENTSAG sent a signal some days [ago]…”
Jonathan Dzunu
Meanwhile, the National Labour Commission (NLC) has revealed that it will engage with the CENTSAG today, April 12, 2022, to begin negotiation over their conditions of service. The Executive Secretary for the National Labour Commission, Ofosu Asamoah, appealed to the members of the association to call off their strike as they meet with the government to bring finality to the issue.
On Monday, April 11, 2022, members of the CENTSAG laid down their tools in protest of what they described as the failure of their employers to act on their demand for better conditions of service.
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