Make provision for free SHS graduates in 2019 budget – UTAG to government

Ahead of the 2019 fiscal policy presentation, the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) is calling on the government to make provision for products of the Free Senior High School policy who will be entering the university in 2020.

UTAG expressed concern about the number of students who will be coming out of the free SHS programme to the public universities and has thus implored the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, to secure funds for the recruitment of more university lecturers.

President of the University of Ghana branch of UTAG Dr. Harry Agbanu said there must be some preparations, not just for the recruitment of lecturers but also for the overall provision of infrastructure for the universities.

“We will need a lot of dormitories, a lot of lecture halls, a lot of tools for teachers to use and even recruitment of lecturers in the universities,” he said.

He said the current number of lecturers will not be able to attend to the needs of the expected increase in student population if nothing is done to augment their work, observing “already we are overworking ourselves because of the numbers”.

Dr. Agbanu said the current lecturer population in the public universities nationwide is pegged at 3 lecturers per 500 students, a situation he says impedes academic progress.