The Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) has disclosed that the research and book allowance does not fall under the categories of allowances listed under the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS).
The Chief Executive of the Commission, Smith Graham, stated that any allowance which does not fall under the four main categories of allowances is considered a “salary top-up.”
He pointed out that a critical look at the research and book allowance indicates that it is an employment tool to help tertiary teachers effectively perform their duties.
“The research and book allowance is very important to the lecturer because it is part of the academic work that they do in terms of their promotion and everything, but at the end of the day, it is a tool that government is providing,” he said.
Citing an example, Mr. Graham mentioned that “if the institution has provided for instance, an e-library facility that you can go there and access all the books… the employer cannot give you any allowance to go and buy any books again.”
In relation to research, he added that “if the employer says he is going to set up a research fund so that the research that you are supposed to do…I don’t see where the difficulty is.”
He said that a national research fund should be introduced to support lecturers in whatever they are doing.
“All you need to do is to put them in the policy document that you are going to develop, and it will take care of the others. I don’t see where this is coming from. In this modern Ghana where we are talking about youthful resources and everybody is talking about government using the money judiciously, do you think the ideal thing will be to give book allowance to a lecturer?” he added.
