Members of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) have joined ongoing protests to register their displeasure about service conditions.
UTAG Secretary of the UMaT Chapter, Dr. Asare Asante-Annor, said UTAG members at UMaT met on Monday, July 26, 2021, where they unanimously agreed to join the strike action if the government fails to yield to their demands for better conditions of service.
UTAG members are on strike over what they say is the government's failure to cooperate with UTAG to complete negotiations on its conditions of service, which started in August 2018.
Speaking to Ghanaweb in an interview, Dr. Asante-Annor said lecturers have withdrawn only one aspect of their services; teaching, which includes teaching, the conduction of examination, marking of scripts, and invigilation.
He added that they are still doing research and community service which forms part of their core mandates.
The Senior Staff Association of Universities of Ghana (SSA-UoG) has also declared a strike effective Monday, August 2, 2021, in connection with the failure of the government to resolve issues concerning their conditions of service.
Students of UMaT were supposed to start their exams on Monday, August 2, 2021, but due to the strike by UTAG and SSA-UoG, the exams have been postponed until further notice.
According to the students, they fear the strike will affect their graduation, academic calendar, and the entire calendar of the university. They noted that the strike will distort the plans of students who would want to go out for internships during vacation.
They, therefore, are appealing to the government to meet the two groups in order to solve their problems so that academic work can begin.
The University Relations Officer of UMaT, Mr. Thomas Bright Eshun on his part, noted that the strike will affect the university in diverse ways.
He explained that members of SSA-UOG offer technical support to the work of lecturers, so once those two groups are on strike it affects academic work.
Mr. Eshun further explained that if the strike continues, it may affect the graduation of final year students and the academic calendar.
