Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch), an education think tank, has requested the government to close all public institutions in the nation until university teachers end their strike.
In a statement, the education think tank argued that given the rising social and economic costs of staying on campus with no academic activity, the lack of academic direction for freshers on campus, and the lack of an imminent negotiated settlement of the impasse, closing the schools is in the best interests of students, particularly freshers, and their families.
“The strike was declared on January 10, 2022. Majority of students on campus are freshmen who have not even been matriculated. These freshmen have had no academic direction since they arrived in the universities to meet a university community without academic activity or supervision by their lecturers and counselors due to the strike. Their continuous stay on campus without academic activity has economic and social consequences on them and their families back home, as they continue to incur expenditure they otherwise wouldn’t have incurred if they were home.”
“On the labour front, five weeks of industrial action is yet to achieve any significant progress in negotiating a settlement to the impasse, ”it added.
As a result, Eduwatch has urged Vice-Chancellors to shut all public institutions until the UTAG strike is called off.
The members of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) have been on strike for 22 working days.
The purpose of the UTAG strike is to seek improved working conditions, which university teachers have been pursuing for years.
According to the statutes that govern public universities, if there are no teaching activities for 31 days after academic activities commence, the institution must be closed down.
A meeting on Tuesday between the Ministry of Education, UTAG, and other parties concluded inconclusively and will resume on Thursday.
The meeting was called after the High Court ordered the National Labour Commission and UTAG to reach an out-of-court settlement in response to a suit filed by the NLC.
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SOURCE: CITINEWS
