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The Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana (POTAG) has expressed satisfaction with the outcome of a meeting held yesterday between the association and the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education (PSCE) on the payment of its book and research allowance. �Though issues were not ultimately finalised at the meeting, we are so far pleased with how negotiations are going. We are yet to meet the Minster of Education on a memorandum of understanding by the PSCE,� the president of POTAG, Mr. James Dugra, told The Ghanaian Times in Accra yesterday. He said POTAG was likely to return to the classroom should the minister approve of the outcome of the meeting. The chairman of the committee, Mr. Matthias Puozaa, said POTAG had been very co-operative in the discussion and had showed its willingness to end the strike. He said the committee would continue to play its role effectively as a mediator and ensure the resolution of the matter within the shortest possible time. The Parliamentary Select Committee on Education, invited POTAG last week by a directive from the Speaker of Parliament to discuss the payment of the lecturers� book and research allowance which has resulted in their two-month strike. This follows a petition by the Ghana National Union of Polytechnic Students (GNUPS), pleading with Parliament to intervene in the impasse between the government and their lecturers. Speaking to The Ghanaian Times in Accra on Friday, the chairman of PSCE, Mr Puozaa, said the decision to meet the lecturers was to address the payment as directed by the Speaker of Parliament. He said the Speaker, on receipt of the petition, directed the committee to do its best to resolve the matter by arranging an urgent meeting with key stakeholders to discuss the way forward. The scheduled meeting also followed an unsuccessful meeting between the National Labour Commission (NLC) and POTAG last Wednesday, July 16. The NLC had invited POTAG for a compulsory arbitration on the orders of the Accra Human Rights High Court last Monday, July 14 but the meeting was stalled as the arbitrators declined to table the motion for deliberations. The court gave the NLC a 10-day ultimatum to force POTAG into arbitration after describing as unlawful, a directive by NLC asking the lecturers to return to the classroom. However, the president of POTAG, Mr. Dugra, said the association�s paramount interest was to resolve the issue with the government to enable members to return to the classroom. He said a fruitful discussion which sought the interest of the association was necessary to convince other members to commence teaching. The polytechnic teachers have been on strike for almost two months over unpaid book and research allowance, forcing some polytechnics in the country to completely shutdown. They are demanding payment of allowances for the 2013/2014 academic year.