The President of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), Dennis Appiah Larbi-Ampofo has pleaded with government to put students first in the negotiation with the Educational Workers Union in times of strike.

According to him, the government should prioritise education in order to encourage teachers to return to the classrooms.

“The conversation has to be derived from tokenism where education is subject to a second thought. Lowered on the prioritisation scale, that is where we are now. That is why the students of this country are worried. We're worried because people who understand education very well ought to put education at the top,” he said.

Speaking in an interview on JoyNews’ The Pulse on Wednesday, Mr Larbi-Ampofo explained that the country will not move further in development if education is not taken as a first-hand priority.

“The problem is people thinking that students are in the house, so it is not a problem for teachers to go on strike. The problem is that we do not see the missiles we're throwing at our education sector as damaging enough.

“We don't see the fact that we are gradually grounding our future as a country. Where do we get to if we are not taking our education system as the number one priority?”

He noted that every single hour educational workers stay out of the classrooms is an hour taken from the development and future of the country.

Meanwhile, five educational worker's unions across all public universities and all Colleges of Education are currently on strike.

They are; the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), Technical University Teachers’ Association of Ghana (TUTAG), The Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG), Teachers and Educational Workers Union of Ghana (TEWU) and the Technical University Senior Administrators’ Association of Ghana (TUSAAG).

NUGS in a release signed by its President, Dennis Appiah Larbi-Ampofo stated that tertiary education in the country is heading towards danger as a result of the strikes.

He, therefore, called on the Ministry of Education and all other stakeholders to act with urgency to find an amicable resolution to the issues to prevent further disruption to the academic and educational structures.