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POTAG strike: Final year students to undertake National Service

Final year polytechnic students who have not completed the 2013/14 academic year will still have to undertake their national service this year, the Deputy Minister in charge of Tertiary Education, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has said.

According to him, the students will be posted to regions where their schools are located so as to be able to combine the final academic work and national service.

Polytechnic Teachers have been on strike since May 15, 2014 demanding that government pay them their book and research allowances which are in arrears.

The strike has led to the closure of all 10 polytechnics in the country leaving the students in limbo.

Speaking on Accra based Citi FM Tuesday morning on the fate of final year students who have not been able to complete their academic work as a result of the strike but are expected to join the National Service Scheme (NSS) in September, Mr Ablakwa said the NSS has been asked to ensure that polytechnic students are posted in the regions where the schools they attended are located.

"...so that if you are in Accra Poly you are posted in Accra, if you are in Tamale Poly you are posted in the Northern Region, if you are in Takoradi Poly, you are posted in the Western Region. So that as and when this matter is resolved, you can quickly take leave and write the exams and return to the field for your national service.”

For continuing students, Mr Ablakwa said, “...we are a bit concerned because the academic year is about to begin and this matter has not been resolved. But as I said, we are still talking behind the scenes but it has become complicated as these matters are now in the bosom of the courts.”

In July, the Human Rights Division of the Accra High Court declared that the strike embarked upon by the Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana (POTAG) was legal after the National Labour Commission (NLC) had petitioned the court to declare the strike as illegal and order the lecturers to go back to the classroom.

The court rather ordered the NLC to enter a compulsory arbitration procedure, provided for under Regulation 26 of the NLC Regulations, 2006 (LI 1822), with POTAG to resolve the impasse.

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