By Razak Baba
The Technical University Teachers Association of Ghana, TUTAG is unhappy about the seeming delay on the part of the government in writing to approve the duly negotiated Conditions of Service between the Managements of Technical Universities and the Unions. TUTAG admitted that the government has shown commitment to achieving parity of prestige for the TU staff. However, members have noted that total parity has not been achieved considering the fact that there are many Conditions of Service which are still based on that of the former Polytechnic Conditions of service. This state of affairs negatively affect the living conditions of TUTAG members.
These were contained in a Communique signed by President and General Secretary of the Association after its 43rd Congress held at the Takoradi Technical University. Members also discussed the agreements reached between the government and TUTAG emanating from the National Labour Commission’s ruling of 2019. Members were not happy that long after UTAG had completed negotiations, the government was delayed in issuing a letter to extend the same allowances to TUTAG members.
This situation members contend seems to derail the trust that members have built in the past for the government. Members resolved to remind the government to do well to honour its part of the agreement to promote industrial harmony on various Technical University campuses.
Congress discussed ways to change the general perception that TUTAG is only known for strikes and other forms of industrial unrest. Members resolved to put in place committees to engage stakeholders and the general population to organize seminars, workshops, and other fora to deliberate on issues of national interest and fully participate in economic, political, and social discourse to reshape the national psyche for the development of Ghana. Other Committees were also formed to advise the leadership of TUTAG on legal and investment activities to ensure the benefit of the Technical University lecturer. The Congress of TUTAG also deliberated on the deplorable conditions of infrastructure on various campuses.
”We acknowledged that the government was doing a lot to build and resource our laboratories and buildings to augment the already deplorable ones”.
However, TUTAG still felt that the support was not adequate, judging from the fact that the TUs were young on the block and needed more support to bring them up to standard to run effectively.
” We wish to call on the government to as much as possible help the TUs realise this dream”.
The leadership of TUTAG also discussed the accreditation of new programmes. It commended the Minister for Education and the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) for facilitating the process of programmes accreditation submitted by TUs to the GTEC; however, members felt that the GTEC could do more in getting their post Graduate accreditation applications from Technical Universities to go through quickly and smoothly, saying they have the capacity to mount post-Graduate programmes.