37

On Friday 18th November, 2022, the Technical University Teacher’s Association Of Ghana declared an indefinite strike action due to a number of reasons, bringing to a halt all academic activities across all the ten Technical Universities in the country.

In reference to this action, the Ghana National Union Of Technical Students(GNUTS) has in a Press Release singed by the National President, Mr. OSEI AKUSIE AHMED called on government to complete the necessary negotiations with TUTAG .

“Technical University students across the country a few days ago received an ignominious announcement about a strike action by the Technical University Teachers’Association of Ghana (TUTAG) due to a number of reasons, but primarily the blatant failure of government through the ministry of Finance to comply with the ruling of the National Labor Commission with respect to the conditions of service of TUTAG.

It is worthy of notice that this is not the first time TUTAG has embarked on a sit-down strikeover similar or the same circumstances, and we believe the ordinary students have been the worst sufferers of the strike action, with this recent one not an exception.
Academic activities are in session for most of the technical universities and have just begun a new academic year. Other technical universities have also scheduled re-sit examinations and congregations within the period from now to the end of the year. All these activities will be at a standstill while the academic calendar will be heavily distorted if the strike action is not called off as soon as possible.

Students who will have to write a re-sit before graduating will have to forfeit their dream of graduating this year because lecturers are not available to coordinate, supervise, and mark re-sit exams. Part-time students and even regular students who are on a fixed-term study leave will have to forfeit their jobs if care is not taken because the academic calendar will have to beshifted,which will affect the scheduled time for students to complete their course.

All these and many others are the negative consequences of this strike action by TUTAG,which is definitely a cause for worry for us as student leaders, and the more reason why wewish to express our audacious displeasure about the ministry of Finance and government’sblatant disregard of the NLC’s ruling.

We believe in negotiations and compromise,and
government and the ministry of Finance should have therefore engaged TUTAG in the event of any changes or emergencies to the earlier resolution.

Government’s wanton posture of refusing to fulfill its part of the obligation and abide by theNLC’s ruling is highly detrimental to students of technical universities,and one can onlyinsinuate that government lacks interest in the development of technical education in Ghana;meanwhile, it is a fact that technical education is the perfect foundation for the industrializationagenda of government, this makes government’s claim of moving Ghana to a production-driven country a facade.

We admonish the current economic hardships in the country and globally, which havecompelled Ghana to seek an IMF bailout; we will therefore urge TUTAG to consider studentsand soften its stands to help resolve the issues amicably and to return to the lecture hall.
We wish to call on the government,the ministry of finance, the ministry of education,theNational Labor Commission, and relevant stakeholders to resolve all issues with TUTAG assoon as possible to ensure TUTAG returns to the lecture halls as students are the worst sufferersof this strike action.

GNUTS is aware of the current strike action by UTAG and the recent one by GNAT,NAGRAT,and CCT all in the educational sector. Although students affected by their action are not underour structures, we believe the problem of one student is the problem of all students and willadmonish government to resolve all issues with all labor unions within the educational sector.We also admonish all student leaders to come together and advocate for the government toresolve all issues with the labor unions within the educational sector as a matter of urgency.We urge students of technical universities to remain calm and study on their own as we engagevarious stakeholders to ensure our lecturers return to the lecture halls.

We will continue engagements and advocacy to ensure right things are done.

OSEI AKUSIE AHMED
(GNUTS President)
0547569922”