UTAG strike: We are running out of cash - UMaT students

Correspondence from Western Region

Students of the University of Mines and Technology say they are running out of cash due to the UTAG strike.

According to them, they have been on campus without being taught due to the strike action of UTAG, for the past four weeks and this is having an effect on their finances.

UTAG’s strike

Read full articlehas entered its fourth week without any resolution from both parties (UTAG and Government).

The National Labour Commission (NLC) sued the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) for failing to comply with the directive to call off its strike.

But on Thursday, the Labour Court 1 Division of the High Court directed the National Labour Commission (NLC) to settle its impasse with the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) out of court and report back to the court on February 10, 2022.

With Ghanaian universities on the verge of closing down due to a lack of academic activities over the past weeks, some students of UMaT have expressed concern over the lack of academic activity.

Even though the students do not want to go home, they are worried because they are running out of cash.

One of them said, “some of us have to rely on friends who still have some money and provisions on them to survive.”

The students called on both parties to settle their issues amicably before February 10, 2022 so they can go back to the classroom.

Speaking to the UMaT SRC President John Baguri, he said students will not pick a side as to which party is right or wrong.

He explained that the “primary interest of the students is to have lecturers return to the classrooms for academic work to resume to enable student to complete their respective programs and move on to serve the nation”.