The TTAG WEC- Sector Organizing Secretary, Isaac Issifu has expressed worry regarding how trainees are treated by the government in terms of payment of their allowances.
According to him, the promise by the Akufo-Addo-led administration to restore allowances and make life comfortable for trainees was a scam.
Read his full statement and argument below;
Allowance can be delineated as the sum of money paid regularly to a person that meets the needs or expectations of the scheme. Historically, the agitation for trainees’ allowance started in the 1980s.
The allowance of teacher trainees is paid by the government of Ghana as a way to cushion trainees as they go through their 4-year Bachelor of Education Program.
However, the allowance was canceled in the erstwhile NDC administration led by H.E John Dramani Mahama, with the reason being that the payment of allowance runs the country as a deficit.
Therefore the compensation was to enroll more students in the training institutions.
The allowance was restored in 2016 by H.E Akuffo Addo’a Government. Before the restoration and the cancellation, it was paid every month throughout the year. This means that the allowance was paid every single month for 12 months.
The current changes that took effect after the restoration are that;
- Allowance is to be paid to trainees according to the number of months spent at the college, precisely the semester.
- The number of months spent in a semester is four, hence government pays an allowance for these months.
The Students Loan Trust Fund (SLTF) is the institution responsible for the disbursement of funds to the accounts of trainees after fully met their terms and conditions.
Restoration of the Allowance is a Scam
Kindly follow up on my reference, why restoration of the allowance is a scam?
The following points substantiate in toto that it’s a scam;
- The main rationale for the cancellation was that it was causing the country huge amounts of money, therefore amidst its cancellation. The idea was to cancel and enroll more Students.
- This incumbent government restored it with a central idea that, it serves multiple functions to trainees.
- During their pronouncement, they made it clear to the audience of Ghana and precisely trainees that they will restore it and increase enrollment.
- Surprisingly, why the quota system?
The introduction of this quota system has affected many innocent Ghanaians who qualified to gain admission to training institutions. A clear example is Bia Lamplighter College Of Education received 1281 applicants and they were strictly to admit 200 students. Meaning that 1081 students didn’t receive it.
This has become a canker to most Principals in training institutions during admission and serves as an impediment to many Ghanaians enjoying their rights- the right to education.
The argument here is, are they not Ghanaians? It is out of obscurity to prominence that the ruling government, led by H.E Akuffo Addo is nothing but tricksters and political gimmicks.
I believe there is no better definition of a scam other than this. Just recently after trainees across the country received an alert of allowances from SLTF, within a few minutes they stated that it was a technical fault.
How can you mislead and play with the heart of trainees? It’s four months now, the government hasn’t paid something they claim it’s a source of motivation for ordinary trainees, how do they survive.?
More especially final-year students who are to go to their various towns to do their internship (teaching practice) find it difficult to survive because our program has turned into our problem, notwithstanding those on campus finding it cumbersome to sustain.
College managements find it very arduous to feed student-teachers as a result of irregular payment of feeding components.
Their feeding formation has changed drastically due to this catastrophe.
What are the differences between the cancellation and the restoration of the allowance.? This is a scam!
To this end, taking key insight from the above points substantiate clearly that the restoration of allowance is a scam.
Thanks for the good work