Universities witnessing 'ever-increasing attrition rate' of lecturers – UTAG warns

UTAG to embark on strike effective January 10, 2022

UTAG urges government to implement 2013 interim market premium

Students to bear brunt of strike action

The University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) has decried the rate at which university lecturers are leaving the teaching profession in search of greener pastures in other fields.

According to the group, this is as a result of the worsening conditions of service of lecturers.

UTAG in a statement dated January 8, lamented government’s inability to meet timelines agreed upon during negotiations as part of efforts aimed at improving the conditions of service of lecturers.

“It may be recalled that the Interim Market Premium (IMP) which was instituted following the implementation of the Single Spine Pay Policy got frozen, per a Government White Paper, in 2013, for the purpose of the conduct of a LMS to determine a MP payable to workers deserving of it. To date, this determination has not been made, which has resulted in the erosion of the University Teacher’s salary,” parts of the statement read.

“There was the hope that by completing and implementing the Labour Market Survey (LMS) Report of 2019, a review of the IMP would have put the University Teacher on a relatively good salary stead. Regrettably, the recommendations of the 2019 LMS Report without any accompanying technical report on the implementable MP is meaningless to UTAG as it does not address the pertinent issues of improved CoS. Interestingly however, there was a LMS in 2014 whose Report did not see the light of day and one wonders if the 2019 LMS Report would ever be implemented since it is already two years old.” the statement added

Citing the 2019 Labour Market Survey report which proscribes that Public Services Commission should liaise with educational institutions to prioritise the offering of courses in areas of demand to increase the employment prospects of their graduates and increase the pool of applicants for high vacancies, UTAG questioned how this is to be achieved when lecturers' condition of service keep deteriorating.

“How can such a National Agenda be attained if the CoS of the University Teacher keeps worsening year on year leading to an ever-increasing attrition rate on our campuses? UTAG members see the timing of the release of the report as one of the usual delay tactics that the Employer has employed over the years, which is unacceptable” the group stressed.

UTAG also pointed out that its “members have decried the pittance agreed to be paid as annual research allowance and want government to reconsider the payment of a more realistic research allowance as this is critical to our research output, promotion and ultimately national development”.

It again wants government to restore members to the 2013 Interim Market Premium of 114% of Basic Salary in the interim whilst Government goes ahead to formulate guidelines to implement the appropriate recommendations to address the CoS of the University Teacher.

To this end, UTAG has served notice to embark on a strike action by withdrawing teaching and related activities until further notice with effect from Monday, January 10, 2022.

Read Below The Full Statement from UTAG;