Education think tank, Africa Education Watch, has called on Vice Chancellors to shut down all public universities until the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) calls off its strike.

Eduwatch is of the view that the continuous stay of students on campuses without any academic activity has adverse economic and social consequences on the students and their caretakers.

“They continue to incur expenditure they otherwise wouldn't have incurred if they were home. We, therefore, call on Vice Chancellors to close down all public universities until the UTAG strike is called off,” Eduwatch said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Majority of students on campus are freshmen who have not even been matriculated. These freshmen have had no academic direction since they arrived in the universities to meet a university community without academic activity or supervision by their lecturers and counselors due to the strike.”

Close Down Universities Until UTAG Impasse Is Resolved - Africa Education Watch ⁦@KNUSTGH⁩ ⁦@UCCGH_Official⁩ ⁦@UDSGhana⁩ ⁦@uew_official⁩ ⁦@UnivofGh⁩ https://t.co/Q5GduJsrb3

— Eduwatch (@AfricaEduWatch) February 9, 2022

According to the think tank, it has become necessary to close down all universities “in view of the increasing social and economic cost of staying on campus with no academic activity, the absence of academic direction for freshmen on campus, and the apparent lack of an imminent negotiated settlement of the impasse.”

“On the labour front, five weeks of industrial action is yet to achieve any significant progress in negotiating a settlement to the impasse,” Africa Education Watch bemoaned the situation.

On Tuesday, a meeting convened by the Education Ministry with UTAG and other relevant stakeholders ended in a stalemate.

The parties are expected to continue the negotiations on Thursday, February 10.

UTAG has been on strike to demand better conditions of service.