Government directs GTEC to prepare public universities for weekend reopening as it intensifies efforts to end GAUA strike

Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu directed the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) to urge public universities to set reopening dates for the weekend, as the government strives to end the Ghana Association of University Administrators (GAUA) strike. Minister Iddrisu expressed hope that GAUA would suspend the industrial action soon, allowing academic activities to resume in public universities.

The strike, which began on August 10 and was briefly suspended on September 15, centers around discrepancies in the Interim Market Premium (IMP) paid to senior university staff. The issue has disrupted university operations, forcing institutions like the University of Ghana and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology to push back their reopening dates.

The Minister emphasized the importance of maintaining the current academic calendar, describing it as the best experienced in five years, and pledged to protect it from the strike's impact. However, the timeline for reopening depends on further consultations between GAUA and its members, with no decision to suspend the strike announced yet.

The Minister clarified that he was facilitating a resolution on behalf of the government and not involved in salary negotiations, as the education minister does not have the mandate for such talks. He acknowledged the potential for disagreements between the government and the workers' associations but stressed that both parties remain under the government's employment.

Minister Iddrisu called on GAUA's leadership to consider the strike's impact on students and to halt the action to allow normal academic work to proceed. The Ministry of Education had invited GAUA and GTEC to a meeting on Monday to seek an amicable resolution, with attention now focused on the association's consultations with its members and the possibility of a strike suspension.