The Chairman of the Governing Council of the University of Education, Winneba, Prof. Obeng Mireku, is appealing to government and the Ministry of Finance to, as a matter of urgency, address the industrial action by the Senior Staff Associations of the Universities in Ghana.

The Senior Staff Association of the various public universities across the country are currently on strike with threats of an industrial action by the Ghana Association of University Administrators.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony of the university, Prof. Obeng Mireku says the strike of the Senior Staff Association of Ghana, coupled with the looming strike by the Ghana University Administrators Association, if not addressed, would lead to disruptions of the academic calendar of the various universities across the country.

He makes the point: “the Senior Staff Association of Ghana are currently on strike and the Ghana Association of University Administrators has also indicated its intention to go on strike if the Ministry of Finance goes ahead with the decision to stop the payment of certain allowances of some of its members.”

He called on the Minister of Finance to continue to engage unions with outstanding issues to avert series of industrial actions at the public universities.
“It is important that such stakeholders in the running of the universities with concerns are engaged to avert series of strikes in our universities,” he indicated.

Prof. Obeng Mireku also made a further call on the Vice- Chancellors Ghana to intervene in to avert any disruptions to the academic calendar of the public universities.

The UEW Governing Council Chair also spoke on the ‘Fix the Country’ campaign being embarked on by a section of Ghanaians.
“let me add my voice to the recent social media campaign, #Fix the country, and remind all Ghanaians that it will take a collective effort to fix the country,” he stated.

He indicated, while he admits that government has a major role to play in fixing the country, such a role could not happen without the contributions of the citizens and called on all to put their shoulders to the wheel.

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba, Rev. Prof. Anthony Afful-Broni paid a growing tribute to graduands that are mothers who braced all odds to complete their programs of study.

“When you started the programme some two or four years ago, some of you had your apprehensions; however, you braced the storms and did your work with discipline, determination, optimism and steadfastness,” he stated.

Prof. Afful-Broni says following the university’s strategic objective to expand graduate studies, promote quality research output, and enhance academic standards, it has received approval to procure a plagiarism checker – Turnitin – to further secure the quality of research works produced by their students and staff.

The university on Wednesday was hugely commended by the president for their judicious use of their internally generated funds. They had used their funds to complete 8 sets of 500-capacity lecture theatres, a Food Court, an Ultra-modern Students’ Centre, the Technology Block at the Central Campus and the Tower of Excellence at Simpa roundabout at the North Campus of the university.

A total of 10,000 students will be presented for graduation. Of this figure, 1,288 students will graduate with postgraduate degrees, 12 of whom are PhD graduands; 6,120 students will graduate with first degrees and 2,592 with diplomas from the Institute of Distance and e-learning outfit.