The National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) has expressed concern over tertiary education system in Ghana.
According to the union, the tertiary education is heading towards danger. It lamented the seeming nonchalance of caretakers of the country’s education with regards to the strike action by at least five educational worker unions across public universities and Colleges of Education.
“Once again, we want to state clearly that the frustration and unrest is real and managers of the educational sector must at least be concerned about the damaging impact of these strike actions on the future of our country.”
NUGS
In a statement issued on Wednesday, December 7, 2022, signed by the President of NUGS, Dennis Appiah Larbi-Ampofo, it revealed that it held a National Executive Council meeting on December 5, 2022, to consider the current state of strike action in the various tertiary institutions. It reiterated that the consequence of these industrial actions is “devastating”, raising concerns that major academic and administrative activities could be disrupted.
“The continuous inability of the Ministry of Education to resolve with the striking unions is fueling a growing unrest and frustrations of students and the entire educational system. Even more disheartening is the impact on private universities who are affiliated to various public universities now unable to graduate students due to striking actions in the mentoring public universities who are to facilitate these processes.”
NUGS
NUGS call on government to resolve strike actions
NUGS demanded the Ministry of Education and all other stakeholders to act with urgency “to find an amicable resolution to the issues to prevent further disruption to the academic and educational structures”.
The leadership of NUGS assured students of continuing engagements with various stakeholders “in our bid to help solve the impasse”.
In recent months, deluge of strike actions have plagued the country from various universities across the country. UTAG has currently resolved to continue its over three weeks strike unabated and not return to the lecture halls until the government meets its demands for better conditions of service. Similarly, the leadership of the Technical University Teachers Association of Ghana (TUTAG) on Friday, November 18, 2022, declared an indefinite strike over concerns about their conditions of service.
The union demanded the government to honour its Codified Conditions of Service of members, which have been outstanding since 2016. It also accused the government of blatantly disregarding a ruling of the National Labour Commission on the matter, and also blamed the NLC for failing to enforce the ruling.
The Association also wants the Government to pay outstanding Book and Research Allowances for the 2021/2022 academic year for the majority of its members.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education has assured students of TUTAG that it is working to resolve concerns of the association to get them to resume work.
The Minister for Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, stated that the government has shown enough commitment to address the demands of the striking teachers. He expressed optimism that the strike will soon be called off.
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