The Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana (POTAG) called off its three-months-long strike after being satisfied with discussions with government, POTAG’s General Secretary, Ibrahim Adamu has said.
“Government, represented by the Ministry of Education demonstrated good faith and they were very frank with the issues and it wasn’t surprising that by the end of the meeting yesterday, we were gravitating towards a middle ground,” said POTAG’s General Secretary, Ibrahim Adamu.
POTAG members withdrew their services to demand the payment of their 2013/2014 a research and book allowance following government’s decision to scrap and replace it with a national research fund.
The start of the 2014/2015 academic year had been suspended indefinitely due to the strike by both POTAG and the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG).
However, a meeting between the Ministries of Finance and Education, the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), the National Council for Tertiary Education, POTAG and UTAG on Tuesday was reportedly fruitful.
Adamu in an interview on Eyewitness News said the stakeholders at the meeting dispassionately discussed the payment of the money and the leadership of POTAG is satisfied with the outcome.
“By the end of the engagement, we were able to agree on certain compromises and based on that we had to sign an MoU [Memorandum of Understanding],” he said.
In the MOU, government is said to have re-affirmed its resolve to pay the allowances under the existing arrangement and the parties involved have also resolved to initiate the processes with immediate effect.
According to Adamu, the decision to call off the strike “was influenced by a lot of calls from well meaning Ghanaians, civil societies, the students but the fact of the matter is that we were able to speak to the issue which has been the reason for the strike.”
He added that “having satisfied ourselves with the fact that our employer has demonstrated the commitment to pay, we had to put all this into perspective and the way forward is to get back to the classroom.”
In a related development, a Deputy Education Minister in charge of tertiary education, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa confirmed the development to Citi News stating that the allowances will be paid.
He however revealed that it will re-open discussions on the setting up of the national research fund.
“That is more sustainable and a more workable approach so far as research is concerned,” he said.
Meanwhile, it is unclear whether UTAG members will also call off their month-long strike.
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @osamidan