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Government has announced new rules to guide post-retirement contracts for academic staff at the country’s public universities.

This was announced by the Minister of Education, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, at a press briefing in Accra on updates in the education sector earlier today.

The Minister stated that under the new regulations, post-retirement contracts in all public universities shall be guided by the following rules;

1. Mandatory retirement for academic staff of public universities shall continue to be 60 years, in line with constitutional provisions.

2. Professorial grade staff (Associate Professors and Professors) shall be eligible for post-retirement contracts until the age of 70. The initial contract shall be for 5 years up to the age of 65, and then afterward, contracts shall be offered on a 2+2+1 basis, subject to need and good health.

3. Senior Lecturers shall be eligible for post-retirement contracts on a 2+2+1 basis only up to the age of 65, subject to need, and good health.

4. Specific provisions must be made for compensation for all staff on the post-retirement contract. Such staff shall be clearly designated and accounted for separately as Contract Staff in the annual budget of the institution.

Explaining the rationale behind this, the Minister stated that it has become particularly necessary as part of measures to bolster and maintain a critical mass of key academic staff to support the anticipated significant increase in tertiary enrolment as a consequence of the free Senior High School Programme.

To this end, he revealed, the National Council of Tertiary Education (NCTE) has been tasked to develop and deploy a mechanism for monitoring output in those areas following the implementation of the new regime for post-retirement contracts.