With no end in sight to the prolonged strike by the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), many students in public universities across the country have either returned home or are considering the same.
Some of them left campus willingly after they could no longer cope with the frustration and uncertainty that has defined the four-week old strike, while others were instructed to leave by their parents.
Currently, those left on campus are idling about, doing group studies or writing research proposals or attending religious and social activities including revivals and parties.
Many of the freshmen lack a sense of direction because some of them have not been matriculated by the universities or given course outlines to guide their personal studies.
The lecture halls are deserted for most part of the day as the students are usually seen in their hostels and halls of residence hoping that the impasse between UTAG and the government would be resolved as soon as possible.
A final year student of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Martina Asare, told the Ghanaian Times that she has not left yet because she was looking forward to a truce.
“We do not have a course outline, no time timetable. There is no serious action going on. We just hope that the issue will be resolved soon so academic work resumes,” she said.
A student at the University of Ghana, Legon, Eric Mensah, said he was still on campus because he could not afford to travel all the way to Tamale and return in a few days if the strike was called off.
“The parents of some of my colleagues keep calling and asking them to go home because they are not doing anything on campus. It is really frustrating out here,” he said.
A student of the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), Daniel Nyignam said “Most of us came thinking lectures will start but unfortunately it did not. We heard about the strike in school so we decided to stay.
“We are done spending our money. We are done with the semester financially because we are not going for lectures and we eat three times a day. This strike will affect the date of completion scheduled for July. The government should give UTAG what is due its members so academic work resumes,” he said.
Bright Yeboah of the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) was worried that his colleagues in the private universities were busily studying while they had been left in the dark.
Meanwhile, education think tank, Africa Education Watch, has called on Vice Chancellors to shut down all public universities until the UTAG calls off its strike.
A statement issued by Executive Director, Kofi Asare, yesterday said the continuous stay of students on campuses without any academic activity had adverse economic and social consequences on the students and their caretakers.
UTAG has been on strike since January 10 to force the government to restore the conditions of service agreed upon in 2012.
The National Labour Commission (NLC) after hearing the case on Thursday, January 13, 2022, ruled that the strike be called off because it was illegal and did not follow due process.
When the UTAG defied the directive, the NLC dragged UTAG to a High Court in Accra (Labour Division) which asked the parties to settle the impasse on industrial action out of court.
Efforts to settle the matter have not yet yielded results as the UTAG on Monday turned down an invitation from the NLC and has since stood by their decision.
BY JONATHAN DONKOR
