... Over lecturers strike action

Students of the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) have planned to march to the Osu Castle on Monday to draw the attention of government to the negative effects of the strike action by their lecturers.

Announcing this at a press conference in Accra yesterday, Mr. Richard Mensah, President of the Students Representative Council (SRC) said the students would not be able to finish the syllabus if the strike continued.

He noted that since the lecturers laid down their tools students who came from other parts of the country had become frustrated and if the government did not take immediate action their situation would get worse.

He noted that over the years the school had been neglected and although the government pretended to know the worth of communication in national development, it had failed to provide basic facilities needed to train communicators.

The president noted that the Legislative Instrument (L.I.) (NRCD275) 1974 which placed the institute under the Ministry of Information had compounded its problems because the ministry did not care about it.

He could not understand that in this age of information communication and technology (ICT) students could be trained without facilities and modern books.

He has therefore urged the government to speed up the amendment of the LI, which would, among other things, place the institute under the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport to enable it benefit from the GETfund.

Touching on the land at Okponglo for the development of a new site for the school, the SRC president called on the government to ensure that it was developed without any further delay.