Deputy Education Minister Dr. J.S Annan is demanding an apology from the President of the KNUST branch of the University Teachers Association of Ghana. Dr. Ohene Yankyera told Joy News the minister lied when he claimed the entry level pay for a university teacher is 1,500 Dollars. He said his colleagues were angered by the minister’s comments as well as those of the Labor Commission declaring their ongoing strike as illegal. He said if the Deputy Education Minister “thinks he has the [powers] to force us into the classroom, he should go ahead and do it.” Dr Ohene Yankyera stated the striking university teachers have better qualifications than many of those in government “so they should treat us with respect.” But Dr. J.S. Annan says he never lied and is asking the UTAG branch President to retract his statements and apologize to him. “Their salaries and allowances were pegged to the dollar, we have documentation to that effect and so I would suggest very strongly that he withdraws that statement that I’m a liar because that is absolutely offensive and we would have to also look for legal redress,” Dr Annan said. The Deputy Minister said the teachers were seeing themselves as above the law which, for him, is unacceptably arrogant of them. Meanwhile, the National Labour Commission has asked the university teachers to immediately call off their strike. The commission is convening a meeting with the teachers, the Fair Wages Commission, the Council for Tertiary Education as well as Vice Chancellors tomorrow to try to address their concerns. It, however, warns of sanctions if the teachers do not respect the directive to end the strike. Source: Joy News/Ghana