The Technical University Teachers’ Association of Ghana (TUTAG), have threatened nationwide industrial unrest to demand better remuneration and conditions of service.
The more than 2000 members of the Association have given the government up to August 31, 2019, to migrate TUTAG onto the Public University Salary Structure, or face their anger.
At a news conference on the side-lines of its 36th delegate’s congress at the Sunyani Technical University, the Association called on the government to convert Bolgatanga and Wa Polytechnics to technical universities without any further delay.
The congress was held on the theme “Repositioning Ghana’s Education to Support Industrialisation and Economic Development: The Role of Technical Universities”.
Flanked by other executives, the National President of TUTAG, Dr. Solomon A. Keelson, regretted that relevant institutions of state charged with the mandate to oversee the migration of TUTAG members had unnecessarily delayed the migration process.
He expressed worry that in the past three years, the Fair Wages and Salary Commission (FWSC), Ministry of Education (MoE), and the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) remained adamant in bringing finality to the issue of migration upon several meetings and negotiations.
Dr. Keelson emphasised that tension was looming on campuses because TUTAG members had run out of patience, saying “tensions on our campuses have reached a crescendo, and we cannot contain the pressure anymore”.
Following the enactment of the Technical Universities Act, 2016, (Act 922), six Technical Universities were established in the country in August 2016, and the Amendment Act, 2018 (Act 974) pushed for the conversion of Wa and Bolgatanga Polytechnic into Technical Universities.
But, Dr. Keelson regretted that “having complied with all the conditions set out and the timelines proposed for the migration of TUTAG onto the Public University Salary Structure, we are yet to be migrated three years down the lane. The worse is the continuous refusal of the authorities to give a specific date for the completion of the migration”.
GNA
