Approximately 80% of students at the SDA College of Education in Koforidua Asokore have left campus due to the protracted strike by the Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG).
The industrial action, which began on June 14, is in response to the government’s refusal to implement CETAG’s arbitral award and conditions of service.
The situation deteriorated further when the government decided to freeze the July salaries of CETAG members, prompting a complete withdrawal of their services.
As a result, SDA College of Education has seen a mass exodus of students.
A visit to the campus revealed that only a few students mostly first-year students remain.
Lecture halls were deserted, with some being utilized by Senior High School students for their studies.
Male students were seen playing volleyball, expressing their indifference to the lecturers’ absence.
Sakyi Sampson Junior, the SRC President of SDA College of Education, stated that 80%/ of the students have left, while others are stranded on campus.
“This strike came about a month and more, we were not expecting this when we first experienced it we thought that it would be one week but unfortunately it has extended to about a month and two weeks”
He added “Even today that we are having a council meeting by CETAG we don’t know what will be the outcome of it, my students are stranded, I can say that about 80% of students are home now which is a problem for us.
All activities have been seized, SRC, College activities and so many things are not going on, so would say that the government should come to the negotiation table with CETAG and then sort everything out for us to report to campus again”. The SRC President stated.
Kyere Phinihas, former SRC Organizing Secretary, noted that many fourth-year students have been unable to complete their dissertations due to the lack of supervision from striking lecturers.
“We didn’t have any encounter with our lecturers and we don’t have any course outline or any course manual to at least depend on and learn that we can say teachers are on strike and for that matter, these are the course manual or course outline to depend on and also research on so we don’t have anything that we are using to learn”
He added “That aside the level 400 students are embarking on project work and these lecturers are supposed to engage us so that we could know what we could do about the project work. But they are on strike so our project work has been halted. Some students are even in chapter one. Some are yet to even yet to discuss this project work with their supervisors so I think it is really causing a lot to students and most especially we the level 400 that are outside campus”.
Meanwhile, female students have lamented the negative impact of the strike and are calling on the government to resolve the impasse swiftly.
Despite the ongoing strike, and student’s inability to complete their project work, the college has set August 1, 2024, for its congregation ceremony, with Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia slated to be the Guest of Honor.
