V-C appeals to govt to resolve technical varsity teachers’ strike
The Vice-Chancellor of the Kumasi Technical University (KsTU), Nana Prof. Osei-Wusu Achiaw, has appealed to the government and other stakeholders to resolve the strike by the Technical University Teachers Association of Ghana (TUTAG) to enable the lecturers to return to the lecture halls.
Currently, he said, the strike was yet to have any impact on academic work because school had just reopened, but he was of the belief that any further delay in resolving the issue might impact negatively on the academic calendar.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic shortly after the 27th matriculation of the KsTU last Saturday, Prof. Achiaw said: “The strike is not good for our institutions. We have just admitted fresh students and they all have expectations, only for the lecturers to say they will not go to the classroom. It can dampen their spirit.”
The strike
The TUTAG declared a sit-down strike, effective Tuesday, October 7, 2019, over poor conditions of service following the conversion of polytechnics to technical universities.
The group is also demanding the release of a staff audit report conducted by the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE).
According to the association, staff of the technical universities were yet to receive the emoluments for university lecturers since the upgrading of eight polytechnics into universities.
“On 6th August, 2019, the Minister of Finance directed the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department to pay the requisite emoluments to staff of technical universities, with effect from 1st August, 2019. To our disappointment, the payment did not take effect as directed. September salaries did not reflect the public university pay structure,” TUTAG said in a statement announcing the strike.
Minister’s plea
The appeal by the KsTU Vice-Chancellor came just after the Minister of Education in charge of Tertiary Education, Prof. Kwesi Yankah, had appealed to TUTAG to return to the lecture halls as the government worked to conclude negotiations with the association.
Addressing the investiture of Prof. Ben Honyenugah as the first Vice-Chancellor of the Ho Technical University over the weekend, Prof. Yankah said the government was tying the loose ends in the conversation with TUTAG, for which reason its members should be expected back in the lecture halls early this week.
“It is unfortunate that even as we induct a new Vice-Chancellor, we do so in a functional vacuum, as lecturers are on strike. I dare say that the continuous strike is no longer necessary, since talks between the government and TUTAG have been smooth and just about ending,” he stated.
Crucial meeting
Even as the pleas for a return to the lecture halls kept going to TUTAG, its officials said they would only return to the lecture halls when the issues which led to the strike were resolved.
The President of TUTAG, Dr Solomon Keelson, speaking to the Daily Graphic yesterday, said a meeting was billed for this week, with the objective of ending the strike.
The meeting would be among TUTAG, the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, the NCTE, the government and the National Labour Commission, he said.
So far, he said, the government had not shown faith with TUTAG, but expressed the hope that something fruitful would come out of this week’s meeting, so that the lecturers would return to the classrooms.
“The focus of the strike is on teaching, so we will continue to stay out of the lecture halls until the right things are done. However, we will be on campus, attending to other services such as counselling,” Dr Keelson said.
Drain
At the KsTU matriculation, the vice-chancellor said resources were being spent to run the institutions and train the students and “when the object for which this institution (KsTU) is here is not being achieved, surely it is a huge drain on the nation”.
He said he was hopeful that the striking teachers and the government would reach an agreement over the issue for the teachers to call off the strike and return to the classroom to teach.
Matriculation
In all, 4,561 students, made up of 1,839 females and 2,722 males, were admitted for the 2019-2020 academic year.
The number included 25 postgraduate students pursuing Master of Technology programmes in Water and Environmental Engineering, Health Statistics, Financial Statistics, as well as Chemical Engineering.
The university received 7,094 applications, out of which 6,277 were offered admission, but as of the close of registration, only 4,561 had accepted the offer of admission.
Advice
Prof. Achiaw advised the students to work diligently to have a brilliant beginning and to continuously commit themselves to discipline and hard work.
“Your years of staying here shall forever play a key role in your intellectual development; therefore, make the best out of those years,” he entreated the students.