Polytechnic students ponder next line of action

Accra, Nov. 10, GNA - Mr Boye Nii Lantey Williams, SRC President of Accra Polytechnic, on Wednesday denied rumours circulating in the media that polytechnic students across the country had converged at the premises of Accra Polytechnic for a demonstration. He said the event was rather a meeting that the SRC executives from all the 10 polytechnics in the country were to have had with the Minister of Education on issues affecting polytechnic education. "However, I received a call from our Research and Education Officer informing me about the cancellation of the meeting at the last minute. Reasons for the cancellation of the meeting are still not known to me," he told the GNA in an interview.

He said the executives would now converge in Accra on Friday, November 12, for the Accra High Court verdict on the Labour Commission's suit on the strike action by Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana (POTAG).

"When we all meet here on Friday, we would then decide on the next line of action that we are going to take," he said. He described as "very worrisome" the reasons why government would allow polytechnics to experience about 10 weeks of strike action in just one semester.

He said on September 1, our lecturers embarked on a strike action that lasted about four weeks before returning to the lecture halls. "The one we are experiencing now started just two weeks after they returned to the lecture halls because government failed to fulfill its part of the bargain," he explained. Mr Williams expressed disappointment about the government's "lackadaisical attitude", "lack of concern for Polytechnic education" and its "unwillingness to solve the impasse", even after about 5,000 polytechnic students had embarked on demonstration in Accra. He also expressed concern about the Diploma in Business Studies students who write foreign exams with fixed dates and thereby need continuous tuition to prepare them adequately for their papers. Mr Williams said students were wasting money on expensive hostel accommodation when no classes were going. A visit by the GNA to Accra Polytechnic saw the campus almost deserted with only a few students loitering around with some playing games. 10 Nov. 10