‘Treat Us Just Like University Teachers or Face Our Wrath’ – TUTAG

The Technical University Teachers Association of Ghana (TUTAG), has indicated that the failure of government to migrate them onto the conditions of service enjoyed by their counterparts in traditional public universities is politically motivated.

The Association is of the view that, the current government is not showing enough commitment towards their concerns because the erstwhile Mahama administration initiated the conversion of polytechnics into technical universities.

The group on Wednesday declared an indefinite sit-down strike, vowing to only return to their lecture halls when their demands are met.

Speaking on Citi TV’s major news bulletin, Citi Newsroom, Ibrahim Zubairu, Chairman of the Greater Accra branch of TUTAG, said the situation is worrying.

“They don’t respect anybody in the technical universities because they didn’t convert polytechnics into technical Universities. You have a government adviser to the ministries about universities telling us that the former government didn’t think through the change from polytechnics into technical universities.”

We’ll address TUTAG’s concern – Prof. Yankah

Meanwhile, the Minister of State-In-Charge of Tertiary Education, Prof. Kwesi Yankah, has promised to address concerns raised by TUTAG.

 “It’s part of the transition process; from polytechnics to technical Universities as part of processes involving changes in governance structure and change in statute. Also the capacity building aspect of it as far as change or upgrading the conditions of service which are currently ongoing and has not been completed. They know that it is a policy that the government is pursuing, but it is just that the processes have not been completed yet, so we urge them to be patient with government because it is part of the transition.”

Conversion of polytechnics to technical universities

The conversion of polytechnics into technical universities was one of Former President John Mahama’s manifesto promises ahead of the 2012 general elections.

The purpose of the conversion was to bridge the gap between academia and industry.

In 2016, a technical committee on the conversion of polytechnics to technical universities, announced its decision to convert all polytechnics into technical universities, and went ahead to conclude same.