The University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) has suspended its planned nationwide strike, which was due to begin on July 6, after renewed talks with the government over members’ conditions of service.

The association said the decision followed what it described as concrete commitments from the government to address the concerns that had triggered the threat of industrial action.

UTAG General Secretary Dr Joe Harrison said both sides had made progress after a series of engagements held following the association’s initial strike notice.

According to him, the government has provided written assurances and signed documents to show its commitment to resolving the outstanding issues affecting university teachers.

“Well, following the declaration of an intention to go on strike, we’ve had several engagements with the government. The long story short is that there are commitments on the side of the government to resolve the issue that we raised,” he said.

Dr Harrison added that some of the concerns raised by the association, particularly those relating to conditions of service, had already been addressed during the ongoing negotiations.

Despite suspending the industrial action, UTAG cautioned that it would not hesitate to activate the strike if the government failed to fulfil the commitments it had made.

Dr Harrison also took issue with recent comments attributed to former Education Minister Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, who reportedly suggested that some university programmes, including Development Studies, were unnecessary.

He described the remarks as unfortunate and argued that the value of university education should not be measured solely by immediate job market outcomes.

“I think that we should not reduce university education to merely training people for the job market. University education is meant to train your mind. It’s supposed to make you trainable. So once you are able to successfully complete university education, you should be able to fit into every industry,” he said, speaking to Citi News.