Lecturers warned against ‘academic galamsey’

Professor Samuel Kofi Sefa-Dedeh, Department of Food Process Engineering, School of Engineering Sciences, University of Ghana has called for an end to “Academic galamsey”.

He defined “Academic galamsey” as Lecturers lecturing in more than one tertiary institution on part-time bases.

Speaking at the maiden Professor John Evans Atta Mills Memorial Lectures, under the University of Health and Allied Sciences Leadership Lecture Series in Ho, Prof Sefa-Dedeh said the practice is “over stretching lecturers and reducing efficiency”.

He said such lecturers get agitated easily when students seek further explanation to concepts.

Prof Sefa-Dedeh said the situation is also affecting research output of the lecturers, resulting in the delay of their promotion for which they attack Vice-Chancellors and Heads of Department.

He said the concern clearly shows that the “next generation of academics are nowhere to be found”, and called for a concerted efforts to address the situation.

Prof Sefa-Dedeh proposed that the National Accreditation Board should develop a special identification system for lecturers to check the situation when tertiary institutions present the list of their lecturers to it.

He underscored the need for a deliberate attempt to identify and groom high profile human resources for the about 61 private universities, nine public universities and seven other higher educational institutions in the country.

The lecture was on the theme, :“Higher education and its impact on development.”