The Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana (POTAG) has assured students that the academic boards of the various polytechnics will make the necessary arrangements to make up for the teaching hours lost during the strike c action. Speaking to the Times on Tuesday, POTAG president, Godfred Abladu, said the academic boards would meet on Wednesday, on the issue. He said options available to the academic boards were either to reduce the long vacation or to increase the number of hours allotted to each subject to ensure that lost grounds were covered. Mr Abladu said the decision to suspend the strike action was taken at the association's congress on Saturday and communicated to all members. According to him, the failure, of smooth academic work to take place on some campuses on Monday' was probably due to some students and lecturers who might have travelled at the weekend. Members of POTAG who have been on strike for the past five weeks suspended their action on Saturday after an Accra High Court ordered the National Labour Commission (NLC) to appoint a mediator to address the concerns of the teachers within seven days, effective November 12, 2010. In a statement to call off the strike, POTAG said "being a law-abiding body and considering the plight of students, parents and the image of mother Ghana, POTAG decided to suspend the withdrawal of its services with immediate effect. It is recalled that the NLC last month initiated a legal action against POTAG for refusing to comply with its October 15 directive to enter into compulsory arbitration to resolve issues concerning their terms and conditions of service which had expired since 2006. But the Labour and Industrial division of the Fast Track High Court in Accra dismissed the suit last Friday, describing the directive, of the NLC to the teachers as "arbitrary and premature". Source: Ghanaian Times