The Education Ministry has expressed shock at the nationwide strike declared by university lecturers demanding the payment of their book and research which has been in arrears for months.
[contextly_sidebar id=”aGAZV8n0dicO4BjRzo7NJuwhfFKqe0X6″]Reacting to the issue, the Deputy Education Minister in charge of Tertiary Education, Samuel Okudzato Ablakwa told Citi News that government has showed enough commitment in meeting the demands of UTAG.
However, negotiations with the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission seem to have dragged the process.
Mr Okudzato explained: “we noticed that the negotiations had dragged and the 2013/2014 research allowances had accrued so we took the initiative to begin the processes for payment so that by 2016 we can all agree that we have had enough time to put together new laws for the tertiary education research fund so that these things do not happen.”
UTAG in justifying the strike argued that government is yet to acknowledge the numerous letters they have written on their 2014/2015 Book & Research Allowance.
They also stated that they will not take part in any academic work until their demands are met.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education has said they had already initiated the process to have the allowances released to them.
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By: Farida Shaibu/citifmonline.com/Ghana