The members of the Technical University Teachers Association of Ghana (TUTAG) have concluded their 44^th Congress at the Bolgatanga Technical University held on the 25^th to 28^th of October, 2022.

The Congress was held on the theme, “Resourcing Technical Universities for Sustainable Development”.

At the end of the Congress, six major resolutions were made, which included TUTAG’s support of the strike action being carried out by the University Teachers’ Association of Ghana and other sister unions of the various universities.

According to TUTAG, “The issues that UTAG is pursuing are germane to the course of TUTAG. Government in 2021 unilaterally revised the duly negotiated Conditions of Service of university teachers.

“This clearly constitutes unfair labour practice and TUTAG wishes to urge government to stick to the existing duly-negotiated Conditions of Service by applying the current ex-pump price to the payment of the other two (2) items namely Vehicle Maintenance and Off-campus allowances.

“We want government to opt for paying these two allowances based on the current conditions prevailing in the economy to help promote industrial harmony on the various campuses. If after the meeting with NLC on Wednesday, 2nd November 2022, the issues in contention are not resolved by government, TUTAG would be compelled to join the strike.”

TUTAG also called for more support from government to support Technical University infrastructure and provide other needed resources on the various Technical Universities’ Campuses.

“We acknowledge that the government is making effort to build and resource our laboratories, workshops, and other infrastructure to augment the already deplorable ones. TUTAG still believes that the support is not adequate, judging from the fact that TUs are young on the block and need more support to bring them up to standard to run effectively.

“We are also urging government to increase budgetary allocations to TUs because, running TVET and hands-on and other skills-oriented programmes are very expensive. Also, it is suggested that as a policy initiative, government should give incentives to companies and organizations that offer attachment or internship opportunities to students,” TUTAG said in a statement.

Meanwhile, they are urging parents and guardians to consider enrolling their wards into Technical Universities and Vocational institutions.

They noted that the ongoing economic trend has brought to the fore the need to tackle graduate unemployment and help provide the needed human capital for the production of goods and services.

“TUTAG wishes to encourage parents, guardians, and the general public to allow their wards choose innovative, TVET, and entrepreneurial programmes offered in Technical Universities to guarantee employment after school. These include Diploma, Bachelors, and Postgraduate programmes,” the statement signed by the National President of TUTAG, Prof. Collins Ameyaw and the General Secretary, Dr. Abubakari Zakari said.