The management of the University of Bahr el Ghazal on Friday dissolved the Teaching Staff Association due to the resumption of the lectures’ strike over unpaid salary arrears.
In September 2022, the universities of Bahr el Ghazal, Upper Nile, and Rumbek went on strike, demanding the payment of salary arrears with adjustments to cater for inflation.
University of Bahr el Ghazal is one of the public universities in South Sudan. The other institutions of higher learning include Upper Nile University, the University of Juba, Dr. John Garang Memorial University of Science and Technology, and Rumbek University.
Professor Doctor Peter Atem Yom, the institution’s Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, told Radio Tamazuj that the decision came after the lecturers’ body declined to call off the strike over pay.
“The administration, in a joint meeting with the Chairperson of the Specialized Committee for Education, Science and Technology, decided to dissolve the academic staff association of the University of Bahr el Ghazal,” Yom said.
He argued that the Vice Chancellor, Dr. Victor Lako, used the law of the University of Bahr el Ghazal that gives him powers to remove the sitting head of the association of the University.
“The executive body of the academic staff association rejected the call to attend the joint meeting between the University Dean Board in the presence of the Honorable Daniel Malok Achuth, the Chairperson of the Education Committee at the Council of States,” he said.
Reacting to the news, the chairperson of the academic staff association at the university, Joseph Lual Dario, said they denounced the move and called for the immediate revocation of the decision.
“This academic staff association is an independent body which did not register under the administration of the University of Bahr el Ghazal. Therefore, the Vice Chancellor has no right to remove or appoint the executive members of the academic staff association,” he said.
Dario pointed out that the staff association at the University of Bahr el Ghazal was registered at the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and not the Ministry of Higher Education.