Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh
The Minister of Education, Dr. Matthew
Opoku Prempeh, has given an assurance that the government is working around the
clock to get all senior members and other staff of the technical universities
fully migrated unto the Public Universities Salary Structure.
In October this year, the Technical
University Teachers Association of Ghana (TUTAG) embarked on strike action over
what they said was the failure of the Ministry of Education to migrate them
onto the Public University Pay Structure.
The Technical Universities
Administrators Association of Ghana (TUSAAG) also joined the industrial action.
Later in the same month of
October, TUTAG and TUSAAG called off their strike and
extended the academic calendar to make up for the contact hours lost during the
strike.
The Education Minister noted that
though TUTAG and TUSAAG brought technical education across the
country to a standstill through their strike action, they still negotiated
and acted in good faith.
The minister said this in an
address read on his behalf at the 4th congregation ceremony of
the Takoradi Technical University (TTU).
The minister
mentioned that President Akufo-Addo had set before him an agenda to transform
Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) to perform its critical role
in the nation’s development agenda.
He
observed that the TTU had distinguished itself as a
premier centre for higher education in technical and vocational training in the
country.
The Vice
Chancellor of the TTU, Rev. Prof. John Frank Eshun, said his vision was to
position the university as the Centre of Excellence in oil and gas engineering
to drive economic growth.
“Plans
are underway to mount new four-year bachelor programmes in Petroleum
Engineering, Welding Technology, Gas and Plumbing Technology,” he
stressed.
The university turned out 2,414 graduands. Out of the number, 348 were awarded Bachelor of Technology Degrees, 1,784had Higher National Diplomas (HNDs), while 76graduands were conferred with Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) certificates.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi
