Shut down Legon if lecturers won’t teach from Monday – NUGS demands

The National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) is demanding the immediate shutdown of the University of Ghana, Legon (UG), if the school’s lecturers are not ready to return to the lecture halls.

Following an emergency meeting on Sunday, February 27, UG’s branch of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) resolved not to return to the lecture halls.

A letter to the Registrar of UG signed by UG-UTAG Secretary, Professor Ransford Yaw Gyampo, said the lecturers would await the conclusion of negotiations between UTAG and government by the Friday, March 4 deadline before resuming teaching.

But NUGS described this resolution by UG-UTAG as “rather unfortunate”.

In a tweet later in the day, the mother student union said: “Students cannot continue to bear the brunt of this strike action.

“If the teaching is nowhere in sight, shut down the school.”

The resolution of the UG-UTAG not to comply with the Business and Executive Committee’s schedule for teaching and learning is rather unfortunate. Students cannot continue to bear the brunt of this strike action. If the teaching is no where in sight, shut down the school.

— National Union of Ghana Students (@NUGSOfficial) February 27, 2022

Meanwhile, the National Executive Committee (NEC) of UTAG is urging members to return to the lecture halls in compliance with the association's statutes.

“On the issue of whether or not to return to the lecture rooms after a Branch declares its stand, in accordance with UTAG Constitution and Bylaws, we wish to urge all UTAG members to kindly return to the lecture rooms to teach as per the circulars released by the Management Team of the various Public Universities until the NEC of UTAG states otherwise.”