Students at the University of Ghana (UG) are beginning to feel the effects of the strike action by their lecturers today.
Many of them showed up to empty lecture halls as members of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) embark on the industrial action alongside the Senior Staff Association – Universities of Ghana (SSA-UoG).
The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) has directed members to withdraw all teaching and related activities over what they see as the government’s refusal to heed calls by the Association to improve their worsening conditions of service.
In protest, the lecturers have laid down their tools and stayed off teaching, supervising examinations and invigilation, marking examination scripts, and processing results until further notice.
A visit to the University of Ghana campus revealed that students were at the receiving end of the action.
Many of them had their lessons abruptly called off, with others also seated outside lecture halls doing personal studies to make up for the lost contact hours.
“We were told on Friday that there will be tutorials today in preparation for the upcoming examinations, but now we are stranded,” a worried Biomedical Science student told JoyNews.
This leaves pressure on the students as their lecture periods, which have been reduced from 13 weeks to 6 weeks because of the Covid-19 pandemic, will be further exacerbated by the situation.
“Even with the six weeks, we are not able to cover everything in class,” another student explained
Meanwhile, the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) has called on the UTAG and Senior Staff Association – Universities of Ghana (SSA-UoG) to call off their industrial action and continue negotiations with government.
NUGS charged UTAG and SSA-UoG to, “as an act of good faith towards students and government, avoid an entrenched position in all dialogues to address their concerns.”