University education faces eminent collapse under the watch of a former don of the university, Associate Professor JEA Mills.
Since Prof Mills came to power in 2009, universities in Ghana have faced one form of crisis or another. In the 80s and 90s, students of universities in Ghana were never certain when they would finish their programmes in the universities because of constant strikes by lecturers, and sometimes students themselves.
After President Kufuor came to power in 2001, constant closures of the universities became history. But we have gone full cycle and come back to the days of neglect of university education, ironically, with an academic in charge of affairs in Ghana.
At the time of going to press, university teachers at the university of Cape Coast had not been paid their March 2012 salaries. Indeed government subvention to the universities for the payment of salaries has not gone to the universities since the beginning of this year. Since January 2012, the universities have been paying salaries from Internally Generated Funds.
The reason lecturers at the university of Cape Coast have not been paid is that the university authorities say they do not have enough funds to use for the payment of salaries.
On Wednesday, during a newspaper review programme on ATL fm in Cape Coast, one of the panellists, who is a lecturer at the English Department of the University jokingly said that �today is 42nd, and we have not been paid,� referring to the number of days in April that had since added up to the 31 days in March.
A circular to lecturers that was sighted by the New Statesman appealed to lecturers to remain calm as the university makes �frantic efforts� to pay March salaries.
One of the lecturers the paper spoke to remarked: �What frantic efforts are they making? The money is either there or it is not there.� Other lecturers lamented that the era of an President Mills had been the worse for lecturers in terms of the qualitative improvement in their lives.
�When President Kufuor came to power 2001, we were receiving 500gh cedis as salary. He raised it to 1,600gh cedis. Even that, the Prof and his men came grumbling that they did not see why our salary should be pegged to the dollar,� one lecturer told the New Statesman.
The 2011/2012 academic year is about to end but Book and Research allowances for the academic year have not been paid. The leadership of the University Teachers Association of Ghana has been asked to go to the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission to renegotiate for the book and research allowance.
A livid lecturer told the New Statesman: �it is mind boggling that Atta Mills does not understand that research is key to academia. The issue of book and research allowance should be non-negotiable.�
It will be recalled that last year, the Director of the National Service Scheme, Vincent Senam Kuagbenu, said that he did not see why government should continue to pay book and research allowances to lecturers. He said lecturers continually recycle old notes for students year in year out and therefore it was useless to continue to pay them book and research allowances.
It will seem that education is simply not a priority for the Mills-Mahama administration. Another lecturer lamented: �they found money to pay Woyome, but they won�t find money to pay lecturers.�
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