Chaos Hits GTUC

Students of the Ghana Technology University College (GTUC) on Wednesday threatened to embark on a demonstration after October 12, if lecturers refused to call off their strike.

The students also appealed to the Government to constitute the GTUC Governing Council, passage of the GTUC Bill and financial audit of the University to help end the strike.

Mr Emmanuel Owusu Twum, President of the Students' Representative Council (SRC) made these known to the media at a press conference in Accra.

'We strongly believe that being students who have fulfilled our obligation of paying school fees, we should not be used as the bargaining chip by the lecturers to achieve their aims,' he noted.

He said the lecturers had been on strike since September 25 to demand for the submission and passage of the GTUC Bill by Parliament, a formation of a Governing Council as well as a forensic audit into the institution's finances.

Mr Twum recounted that since Professor Osei Darkwa, the former President of the Council was removed from office in September 2017; the University had been under the governorship of an interim Committee, which was formed to steer its affairs, pending the appointment of a new President and reconstitution of a new Governing Council.

He said though efforts by the lecturers to get the Council Constituted for the smooth running of the school failed, resulting in the strike, they disapproved of the method used by the Lecturers Association to address its concerns.

'Our message today is simple yet delicate, lecturers must come for lectures and the University Council must be formed immediately by government.

'We the SRC will not rest until we are heard and our demands are met,' he added.

The SRC President called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to fulfil the New Patriotic Party's Manifesto that stipulated that it would work with universities to raise educational standards to be the best in Africa and beyond.