The National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) has described as false, the claim by teachers of technical universities that it is impeding the implementation of a ruling by the National Labour Commission (NLC).

The Council in a statement issued Wednesday, signed by Executive Secretary of the Council Prof. M. Salifu, said the claim is far from the truth.

Members of the Technical University Teachers Association of Ghana (TUTAG) alleged that government ignored the NLC ruling for their members to be paid, citing the NCTE as an impediment on the way of the implementation of the ruling. 

However, the Council says it has no power “to pay, does not decide who is to be paid or how much the person is to be paid, rather, the Fair Wages and Salary Commission (FWSC) was responsible to take such decisions.”

TUTAG announced an indefinite strike effective Monday to protest the non-payment of allowances due its members following the conversion of polytechnics to technical universities.

According to the Association, government has “refused to fully comply” with the ruling by the NLC to ensure that its members start receiving their allowances from December 2019, January 2020 and February 2020.

NTCE said its role as a Council was only to provide technical input and advice in related deliberations as supervisors of the Tertiary Education sub-Sector and also to ensure that requests for payments are consistent with approvals given before they are forwarded for necessary action.

The Council admitted that although it had reached discussions with the government on such matters, it was not responsible for any issuance whatsoever.

The NTCE, however, reassured the public of government’s commitment towards ensuring that nothing is done to undermine the cause of reforms governing the Technical Universities and the broader Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) reform agenda.

Read the full statement below: