Aggrieved School of Hygiene graduates picket: At employment ministry
Some unemployed graduates of the three schools of hygiene in Ghana on Monday picketed on the premises of the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations to express their displeasure at the government’s delay in employing them since 2011.
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Numbering about 100, the graduates stood at the entrance of the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations building and threatened to sleep at the place until their posting letters were handed over to them.
They also demanded to see the sector minister, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, who, they claimed, promised them last year to sort out all the issues concerning their employment.
Some of them told Daily Graphic they would continue to picket at the ministry’s premises until the government announced their postings.
They claimed that five batches of schools of hygiene graduates from Tamale, Ho and Accra in the Northern, Volta and Greater Accra regions respectively had not been employed since 2011.
Government’s neglect
One of the leaders of the group, Mr Dawuda Faruque, said it was surprising that the government had ignored them and turned its attention to other graduates as if their contribution to national development was not relevant.
“Most of the environmental issues in Ghana are as a result of the government’s failure to employ the services of environmental experts. We have been trained and left to sit idle,” he said.
Mr Faruque said graduates of schools of hygiene were shocked that the government was treating them as if their services as environmental protectors were not needed.
He said they were yet to be given concrete reasons why their employment had been delayed.
“The sector minister told us they were working to add us to the youth employment scheme and we told him we did not like that arrangment since we are not part of that scheme,” Mr Faruque said.
Labour Ministry
A source at the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations said the government was working to address all the challenges causing the delays in the employment of graduates of schools of hygiene.
The source said once all the issues had been properly addressed, all the batches of graduates of the schools of hygiene would be posted to their various work workplaces.