Africa Education Watch has called on Vice-Chancellors to close down all public universities until the UTAG strike is called off.

The Africa Education Watch observed that five weeks of industrial action is yet to achieve any significant progress in negotiating a settlement to the impasse, hence the call for the closure of the Universities.

A statement issued on Wednesday, February 09, 2022 by EduWatch said it will be in the best interest of students; especially, freshmen and their families for the schools to be closed down because there is no closure to the impasse now.

“Majority of students on campus are freshmen who have not even been matriculated. These freshmen have had no academic direction since they arrived in the universities to meet a university community without academic activity or supervision by their lecturers and counselors due to the strike.

“Their continuous stay on campus without academic activity has economic and social consequences on them and their families back home, as they continue to incur expenditure they otherwise wouldn’t have incurred if they were home.”

The University Teachers Association of Ghana’s strike is still in force after its meeting with the Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum ended inconclusively.

The Minister met with the National Executive Committee of UTAG, alongside some other stakeholders on  Tuesday, February 8, 2022, to discuss ways of providing better conditions of service to lecturers in order to get them back to the classroom.

However, according to the Public Relations Officer of the Education Ministry, Kwesi Kwarteng, no middle ground was reached at the meeting pushing both parties to agree on reconvening on Thursday, February 10, 2022.

Source: Ghana/Kasapafmonline.com