Various labour unions and the Alumni of the Tamale Technical University have served notice of resisting the inauguration of the Governing Council with Polytechnic status.<\/p>\n
Chairman of the Technical University Teachers Association of Ghana (TUTAG), Tamale Chapter, Issahaku Salifu raised this concern at a news conference.<\/p>\n
He said the union was outraged by the inauguration of sister Technical Universities to the neglect of the Tamale Technical University.<\/p>\n
He fumed saying, \u201cThe Hon. Minister of Education, Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh indicated in his speech during the inaugural ceremony of Accra, Kumasi, Koforidua, Takoradi, Sunyani and Ho Technical Universities on 8th<\/sup>\u00a0September, 2017 that Tamale Technical University\u2019s Governing Council together with that of Cape Coast Technical University, Wa and Bolga polytechnics will be constituted as Polytechnic Councils.\u201d<\/p>\n He therefore advised the Education Minister to rescind his decision or else government will find it difficult to manage their next line of action.<\/p>\n Below is the petition.<\/p>\n PRESS CONFERENCE BY THE TAMALE TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY LABOUR UNIONS AND ALUMNI<\/strong><\/p>\n GOVERNMENT\u2019S COVERT DOWNGRADING OF TAMALE<\/strong><\/p>\n TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BACK TO POLYTECHNIC.<\/strong><\/p>\n 12TH\u00a0SEPT. 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n The Technical University Teachers\u2019 Association of Ghana (TUTAG), Tamale Chapter, Technical University Administrators\u2019 Association of Ghana (TUAAG), Tamale Chapter, and Technical University Workers Association of Ghana (TUWAG), Tamale Chapter, Alumni Association, and the SRC leadership have observed with grave concern that the current government has cleverly taken a covert step to downgrade Tamale Technical University back to a polytechnic by inaugurating its Council as a Polytechnic Governing Council.<\/p>\n The Hon. Minister of Education, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, on 8th<\/sup>\u00a0September, 2017, inaugurated Accra, Kumasi, Koforidua, Takoradi, Sunyani, and Ho Technical Universities Governing Councils in line with the Technical Universities Act 922 (2016), conspicuously leaving out Tamale Technical University with the reason that Tamale Technical University only received an\u00a0\u201cExecutive Order\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0by the previous government and as such could not be recognized as a Technical University since it was not part of the schedule of Technical Universities in Act 922 (2016).<\/p>\n Ladies and Gentlemen of the media, the \u201cExecutive Order\u201d by the previous government converting the then Tamale Polytechnic to Tamale Technical University makes it legally binding for our institution to \u00a0be effectively recognized as a Technical University. The university therefore needs its substantive Governing Council to function whether it is part of the schedule of the Technical Universities Act 922 (2016) or not.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the Hon. Minister of Education, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh indicated in his speech during the inaugural ceremony of the Technical Universities on 8th<\/sup>\u00a0September, 2017 that Tamale Technical University\u2019s Council, together with Cape Coast Technical University, Wa and Bolga Polytechnics respectively will be constituted as a Polytechnic Councils.<\/p>\n In an explanation, the Hon. Minister of Education indicated that before Tamale Technical University Council can be inaugurated as Technical University Governing Council, a Legislative Instrument (LI) will have to be sent to Parliament of the Republic of Ghana for a period of 21 days.<\/p>\n Ladies and gentlemen of the media, we have a few begging questions for the Minister of Education:<\/p>\n 1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mr. Minister, is it the responsibility of the University or your Ministry to send the LI to parliament?<\/p>\n 2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mr. Minister, if it is the responsibility of the Ministry to do so, and we all know it is. you have been in charge of the Ministry for nine (9) good months, why didn\u2019t you table the said LI in Parliament for the past nine months?<\/p>\n 3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Why has your ministry together with the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) been communicating with our institution as a Technical University and suddenly, upon inexplicable reasons, you are reversing us to a polytechnic?<\/p>\n 4)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In your presentation on the needed educational reforms to the nation, you indicated \u201c\u2026.we have six technical universities, two (Cape coast and Tamale) awaiting policy changes, and two (Bolga and Wa) are preparing to meet the status to be converted to technical universities\u201d if in your own words, we have met the standards and are only awaiting policy changes, are we then closer to technical universities or polytechnics?<\/p>\n Mr. Minister, it is important to remind you that in basic mathematics, whenever it becomes necessary to run off fractions to whole numbers, we run them off to the nearest higher whole number but not the lower one.<\/p>\n We are therefore utterly surprise and grossly disappointed in the Hon. Minister of Education for the manner in which he is handling the inauguration of the Governing Council of the Tamale Technical University. It is undoubtedly a contemptuous attempt to downgrade the University to a polytechnic.\u00a0 As a matter of fact, this is a disparaging attempt to frustrate the efforts of the present and past government to provide Technical University Education for the people of Northern Region.<\/p>\n Ladies and gentlemen, even though the LI is yet to be sent to Parliament the MoE, the NCTE, and all stakeholders in their communications with our institution refer to the Tamale Technical University as a Technical University. All the key officers of the institution have been designated as such in line with the Technical Universities Act 922 (2016). Does the current position of the Education Minister mean that these procedures are all illegal?<\/p>\n Ladies and gentlemen, the financial and psychological costs of reverting Tamale Technical University to back to a polytechnic by government is absolutely unquantifiable for all stakeholders to bear. We shall therefore resist governments attempt to inaugurate Tamale Technical University Council as a Polytechnic Council. We also call on the good people of Northern Region as well as all stakeholders to stand up against this deliberate attempt by government to downgrade TaTU to back to a polytechnic. The action is not only unimaginable and unfathomable but also nightmarish as is horrendous.<\/p>\n .The move has suddenly started eroding the confidence that the stakeholders of the university and by extension the entire people of Northern Region has in this government in providing its people better education.<\/p>\n We are therefore stating our position very clearly that we shall boycott the inauguration of our University Council as a Polytechnic Council scheduled for this very week.<\/p>\n Ladies and gentlemen, having stated our position on this matter we implore Government to bring the education Minister to order and expedite action to inaugurate Tamale Technical University Governing Council sooner than later. This will forestall any unrest in the region and Ghana at large.<\/p>\n We are by this Press Conference assuring the government that anything short of this will result in situations that the government will find it difficult to manage. \u00a0\u201cA stitch in time saves nine\u201d If Tamale Technical University Council is not duly inaugurated as a Technical University Council by Friday September 15, 2017 \u00a0the government should have itself to blame for any undesirable situations that would occur as a result. .<\/p>\n Thank you most sincerely Ladies and gentlemen of the Press.<\/p>\n Long Live Technical Education<\/strong><\/p>\n Long Live Ghana<\/strong><\/p>\n Signed by:<\/strong><\/p>\n Chairman TUTAG (0542 977 933)<\/p>\n Chairman TUWAG (0249515886)<\/p>\n Chairman TUAAG (0244963406<\/p>\n President ALUMNI (0207403081)<\/p>\n President SRC (0248917366)<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n \u00a0By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Various labour unions and the Alumni of the Tamale Technical University have served notice of resisting the inauguration of the Governing Council with Polytechnic status. Chairman of the Technical University Teachers Association of Ghana (TUTAG), Tamale Chapter, Issahaku Salifu raised this concern at a news conference. He said the union was outraged by the inauguration […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[3,11046],"yoast_head":"\n