The Education Ministry has said that it has contacted the leadership of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) in an attempt to bring both parties back to the negotiating table.
The Education Ministry has said that it has contacted the leadership of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) in an attempt to bring both parties back to the negotiating table.
After a crisis meeting on Monday, January 17, UTAG defied a directive from the National Labour Commission to resume academic activity.
However, the Ministry announced that it has commenced discussions with UTAG in order to avoid any more delays in teaching and learning on campuses.
Kwasi Kwarteng, the Ministry's spokesperson, is optimistic that university instructors would soon return to the classroom.
"Behind the scenes, there are conversations between the Ministry's leadership, led by Minister Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, and the leadership of UTAG, so that at the very least, we can all get back to a consensus."
"We will continue to engage the UTAG leadership in order to get them into the classroom." We're quite hopeful that we'll be able to get UTAG back in the classroom, given the urgency and speed with which it's happening," he said.
Meanwhile, the National Labour Commission (NLC) is urging university administrators to compel teachers to follow its mandate.
Ofosu Asamoah, the NLC's Executive Secretary, adding that the government, too, has a role to play in ending the standoff.
"It is the responsibility of the faculty chairs, vice chancellors, and various leaders of various institutions to ensure that they [UTAG] follow the mandate. The government has a responsibility to play in ensuring that they work."
"We [the NLC] gave the directive; after the declaration of the strike's illegality on procedural grounds, we realized that there were difficulties that needed to be rectified, therefore we gave them a month to do so," he explained.
Charles Wereko-Brobby, the Deputy Employment and Labour Relations Minister, has reinforced the NLC's position that the UTAG strike is unconstitutional.
"All we need is for us to sit and engage." When the time comes for leadership, we must confer and make a choice as a group."
"Who in Ghana should respect the law more than the body of university instructors if we don't agree, especially where the law steps in to say that this procedure they did was wrong?" he said.
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