The Executive Director of the education think tank, Kofi Asare on Thursday, 15th December 2022 called on the Government to scrap the allowances given to trainees.
He described the stipend as a wasteful expenditure that the government must cease engaging in with immediate effect.
His statement is causing a lot of agitation among trainees as some describe his call as useless and baseless. Others believe the best thing the President must do is to reduce his ‘government size’ and scrape some of its allowances instead of touching the stipend of innocent trainees.
Abolish the Payment of Teacher Trainees’ Allowances- Africa Education Watch to the Government.
Among many who are against the call by Eduwatch is the SRC Public Relations Officer for Tumu College of Education, Jonathan Zangu
In an open discussion with Coleman Publications on Saturday, 17th December 2022, Jonathan Zangu described the call from Executive Director, Kofi Asare as an act of wickedness and hatred for Trainees.
“It saddens me whenever I hear people talk of the cancellation of Trainees Allowances on some fallacious basis. Most learned people write or sit on TV stations to argue that allowances should be replaced with Students Loan. Some even rubbish the allowance policy claiming it is draining the country’s finances. I see all these allegations to be as a result of political interest or an act of wickedness and hatred for Trainees since the said allowance has been a sustainable arm for most Trainees”, he expressed
“It might be true that government spends a lot in paying trainees allowances, but come to think of it, is it only trainees that receive allowances in the country? Allowances are enjoyed by every single individual in this country even including the President. Should the trainee’s allowance be canceled, will that of all government and its officials be canceled?” he continued.
“Let’s not be so mean towards the teaching profession in this country”
He urged stakeholders and individuals in authority not to be mean towards the Teaching Profession by touching their stipends.
“Please let’s not be so mean towards the teaching profession in this country. The wonderful thing here is that those people that stand against the interest and welfare of teacher trainees who are to become professional teachers, were all taught how to read and write by teachers. So why hit back? A hand that fed you is the one you turn to bite, which is unpleasant.”
“We leave in a country where government officials who receive lumps of money as salaries still receive allowances for every little duty they perform. Take parliamentarians, for instance, they are paid as Members of Parliament but yet receive sitting allowances for meetings and also being part of committees which is not worth talking about. But fear is what grips us and robes us of our future. Instead of making such reasonable suggestions, we go around attacking the less privileged by trying to steal from them to feed the rich” Jonathan asserted.
His Take On Replacing Student Allowance With Student Loan
Asked as to what he thinks of replacing the student allowance with the student loan as Eduwatch suggested, Jonathan argued the initiative will only leave the less privileged Trainees to languish and wallow in the dark places of poverty and suffering while these ‘Gurus lobby for these Loans to themselves and their wards.
“Thinking of replacing Allowance with Students Loan is the less thing to consider. That initiative will only leave the less privileged Trainees to languish and wallow in poverty and suffering while the few that are having influential parents amass these Loans to themselves.”
“If this replacement is done, some officers in charge will extort from students in other to give them these loans. It will also serve as a platform for scammers to step in. We leave in Ghana knowing fully well how corrupt most of its people are.” Jonathan stated.
“There is a clear distinction between Students Loan and Trainees Allowance, however, these policies are each implemented with a defined purpose at the Tertiary institutions in Ghana.”
Contrary, both poor and rich is entitled to the allowances which bridge that gap in colleges of education across the country.
If Trainees even need the chance to be partakers of the Student Loan as well because some of us have business plans that need financial support to flourish which will benefit others also”, he added.
Jonathan lauded the government for his firm decision to continue the payment of the trainee’s allowance next year.
“The current government holds a big applause for the allowance policy since it is the highly fulfilled promise among their numerous promises. It should not be seen as a political policy, rather, it should be treated just as that of the Presidents, Ministers, MPs, and so forth.”
“It is imperatively relevant for successive governments to take this policy up wholeheartedly knowing very well that they are helping the profession which is the only backbone of the country. Our leaders should copy from the US. During Covid-19, the US president (Joe Biden) increased the salary of Teachers because teachers suffer with a lot of workloads.”
In his conclusion, Jonathan posited any leader that speaks against Trainees’ allowance or stands to cancel it has no interest in the progress of the country, adding such a person should not be heard nor should his speech be considered.
“Making Trainees Allowance a thing of the past is tantamount to igniting our educational time bomb”