The University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) has asked tertiary institutions across the country to scale down enrolment quotas for 2016 as it continues to protest against government’s failure to lift the ban on lecturer recruitment.
“We are calling on government to lift the ban and allow the universities free hand to do recruitment,” UTAG stated.
Government has already indicated that it is recruiting some 1,018 lecturers and staff for the various public tertiary institutions across the country.
This proposal has been rejected by UTAG with complaints that the number to be recruited is woefully inadequate.
At a news conference on Thursday, 25 August, UTAG said government must immediately lift the ban on employment.
National President of UTAG, Dr Harry Agbanu, who addressed the conference, explained that the association had made several appeals to government to no avail so they were considering cutting the number of freshmen.
“In a press conference on February 10, 2016, UTAG noted the challenges the ban on recruitment posed to the smooth running of the universities. Following this, a letter dated February 12, 2016 was sent to government seeking to appeal for the unconditional lifting of the ban on recruitment. On March 4, 2016, another letter was sent to remind government that the ban on recruitment had not been addressed. In another letter dated July 20, 2016 to Vice Chancellors and copied to various stakeholders, UTAG reiterated the detrimental impact of government-controlled recruitment on serving faculty and the smooth operations of the universities. It is regrettable to note that with all the numerous correspondences and other efforts, there has not been any direct response from government to the issues UTAG has raised,” he lamented.
He indicated that given the current circumstances and the posture of government, they were, thus, “calling on the management of the various universities to consider scaling down drastically the number of fresh students being considered for admission”.
He also charged management of the various universities to institute steps to stop the gradual erosion of the autonomy of institutions of higher learning and “prevent the wanton and gross interference of governments in the administration of the institutions”.
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
