The Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, has called on the government to address concerns of the striking members of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), to avoid a closure of public universities in the country.

Members of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), have been on strike since January 10, 2022, over the government’s failure to implement their 2013 interim market premium.

Muntaka Mubarak called for the intervention of the Education Committee of Parliament and other stakeholders to address UTAG’s concerns.

He said this engagement will avert a distortion of universities’ academic calendars.

“It is my hope that our colleagues from the education committee will take this up. Already, the timetable of our universities has been distorted. For those who are university students, you have them sitting at home since August for school to open in January. The further delay between UTAG and the government will further exacerbate the situation because it will distort the academic calendar.”

The Asawase legislator also called on the Ministry of Education to involve all relevant stakeholders when making decisions on major reforms within the educational sector to avoid resistance.

There have been calls for the lecturers to call off their strike, which is currently in its fourth week, but they insist they will only return to the lecture halls when their demands are met.

However, the National Labour Commission (NLC) says it is confident it will win the legal battle against the striking lecturers.

The Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, has said his outfit is engaging the University Teachers Association of Ghana on their demands.

“Unfortunately, university lecturers are on strike, but we’ll continue to engage them as to how best we can get them back,” he said at a press conference on Sunday, January 30, 2022.