The Ho Technical University branch of Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana (POTAG) has sent a strong word to government to immediately constitute the governing councils of all technical universities and polytechnics in the country or else they will go on a mass strike.
As contained in a press statement issued on Wednesday, July 5, the Association says the institutions have been without a governing council since the change of government.
“Since the dissolution of the governing councils of all public tertiary institution by the Presidential Transition Act 2012 (Act 845) on 7th January 2017, the polytechnics and technical universities have been operating without governing councils.”
The lecturers say there is too much pressure mounted on them from students who are due for graduation and teachers due for promotion.
“Our students who are due for graduation and yet cannot be graduated are getting frustrated, depressed and constantly harassing university authorities and teachers with telephone calls on a daily basis. Teachers who are waiting for promotion from one rank to the other are getting desperate with the tick of the clock….”
The statement also indicated that the protracted absence of governing councils in polytechnics and technical universities has had a serious toll on their operations.
As a result, they need government to speed the processes involved in constituting the new boards.
According to them, they cannot take any management decisions, budgets cannot be approved, students cannot be graduated, workers cannot be promoted and even fresh students technically cannot be admitted without a governing council.
The Association has, therefore, called on government as a matter of urgency to constitute the various boards or else shut down all public tertiary institutions without boards and they will strike en bloc.
By Dennis Pwaberi Wedam|3news.com|Ghana