Osofo Patrick Adingtingah Apullah, President of the West African Seed Companies Association, has appealed to university and polytechnic lecturers to call off their strike action for the sake of poor parents, who were mostly farmers.
He had also commended the government, particularly President John Atta Mills, for the proactive move to get the lecturers back to the classroom to avoid jeopardizing the education of the students.
Osofo Apullah, who is also the President of the Seed Producers Association of Ghana, made the appeal in Tamale at the weekend in an
interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA).
"About 70 per cent of students, who are out of school because of the strike are children of peasant farmers, who are toiling day-in- and day-out to cater for the needs of these students and making significant contributions to national development through their various farming
activities," he said.
He said it was through the hard work of workers in the country, including lecturers and farmers, that the nation earns foreign exchange, adding that, "Lecturers must tamper justice with mercy."
Osofo Apullah urged the lecturers not to lose sight of the fact that parents struggle to pay the fees of their wards, saying that, they must take cognizance of all these and go back to the classroom.
"The refusal of the lectures not to attend lectures does not onlyaffect the studies of students but the hard earned resources of the poor
parents," he stressed.
Osofo Apullah called on the government to fast track negotiations with the various leaders of the tertiary institutions to calm tempers and return normalcy to the various schools.
He also urged the affected students to be calm and continue their studies while awaiting the amicable resolution of the strike.
Osofo Apullah urged the committee constituted by the President to do a diligent job to forestall any future occurrence of a strike to that magnitude.
He also called on the government to take similar moves in finding solutions to the issues of polytechnic lecturers.