Spokesman Ministry of Education, Kwasi Kwarteng following calls for the government to close down universities over the UTAG strike has said such decision will be made base on the outcome of a meeting scheduled for Thursday.
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Speaking in an interview monitored by EducationWeb, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) said his outfit today will meet the leadership of the University Teachers Association of Ghana and other relevant stakeholders on the industrial action.
“We acknowledge there is a challenge and that has to be solved but for now it will be quite a rush to dismiss public university students to go home, that can only be decided after the Thursday meeting,” the MoE spokesperson stated.
He consequently entreated all stakeholders in the education sector and students to exercise patience as the central government engage the University Teachers of Ghana to address their concerns of poor conditions of service.
“So for me, all other consequential decisions on Whether university students will stay on campus or go home could be determined after Thursday’s meeting slated for 8:AM,” the Ministry Communications Director told Accra-based Citi FM.
Kwasi Kwarteng comment comes after Kofi Asare, the Executive Director of Africa Education Watch (EduWatch) Wednesday petitioned the government to close down universities across the country over the ongoing strike action.
In a statement copied to EducationWeb, the Education Think Tank said public universities should be shut until members of UTAG call off the ongoing strike action the National Labour Commission (NLC) has described as illegal.
“It is unconscionable to keep freshmen who haven’t been matriculated in school for 5 weeks without any academic activity or direction. VCs should close down Public Universities until UTAG calls off strike,” Mr Kofi Asare noted.
He said five weeks of the industrial action is yet to achieve any significant progress in negotiating a settlement to the impasse, therefore, it will be in the best interest of the student and their families for universities to be closed down.
Dr Clement Apaak has also said should the government and University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) not reach a consensus on the issue today, all government universities must be closed down to allow students to go home.
“There is no need to keep the students in school since they have not been matriculated and don’t know their course outlines,” the Deputy Ranking Member on Education Committee in Parliament told the host of Citi FM’s Point of View.
A professional teacher must feel pity for his student and not always what will benefit him the most. At least also make sacrifices for the nation.
We as students strongly support your demands but the extent to which UTAG is collaborating with the government to destroy the destiny of we the vulnerable students is ungodly.