K-Poly students demonstrate to demand the return of teachers

Kumasi (Ash), June 5, GNA- Students of the Kumasi Polytechnic, on Tuesday went on a peaceful demonstration through some principal streets of Kumasi to demand immediate return of their teachers to the lecture hall.

Members of the Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana (POTAG) have since the last week been on indefinite strike over their migration onto the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS).

The Ghana Education Service, Fair Wages Commission and the Finance Ministry have said POTAG's action was illegal since efforts were being made to address their migration onto the SSSS but the lecturers insisted that they would not return to the classroom until the problem was solved.

The situation had resulted in students, some of whom were writing their final examinations becoming stranded on the polytechnic campuses.

The demonstrators clad in red and black and wearing red arm bands held placards, carrying messages like “President Mills Why?”, “NDC is killing democracy', and “Are polytechnic

students not Ghanaians?.”
Some of the students, who spoke to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said the action was to draw both the Government and public attention to their plight.

It was also to highlight the need for all stakeholders to come together to find amicable solution to the impasse.

The students later presented a petition to the in the Ashanti Regional Minister, Dr Kwaku Agyemang-Mensah, and vowed to continue to protest on the streets as long as their lecturers stayed away from the lecture halls.

GNA