A former Education Minister under the Kufuor administration, Professor Dominic Fobih is accusing government and the Education Ministry of wrongly interpreting the usefulness of the research and book allowance for lecturers.
“The impression has been created that the research and book allowance is just a top up of salaries or something for nothing,” he said.
Polytechnic teachers have been on strike for three weeks in a bid to demand the payment of research and book allowance which has been scrapped by government.
The strike has forced some Polytechnics to proceed on an early recess but the Polytechnic teachers have served notice they will only return to the lecture halls if government pays the allowances.
Professor Fobih on Eyewitness News clarified that contrary to widely held perception, the research and book allowance “has a very useful and effective role to play in the lecturers work as an intellectual.”
He justified the importance of the allowance stating that lecturers at tertiary institution belong to professional association or academic community and are expected to subscribe to journals of the association.
The Minority spokesperson on Education also cited the frequent conduct of research for the academic development and promotion of lecturers.
“All these call for use of money and your salary alone cannot do all these work for you,” he noted.
He maintained that the allowance is “a very important assistance to lecturers and it should not be seen as just a token money for top up of salary. The whole thing is being misunderstood.”
Prof. Fobih therefore called for a new perspective should be developed “and if in the present economic state that we are in, government cannot manage it, there should be a way of softening the burden.”
This suggestion according to him will ensure a mutual understanding from both sides.
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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