The recent controversies and calls for the cancellation of the teacher trainee allowance in the Colleges of Education by CSOs is a matter, I consider to be very unfair and the promotion of elitist ideology in teacher education.
It is important to add that the teacher trainees allowance as initially introduced by the great Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah in 1960 aimed to attract more people into the teacher profession was not the only reason for its reintroduction by the Government of Ghana in 2017.
The reintroduction of the teacher trainees’ allowances was therefore to help trainees purchase Teaching and Learning Resources, settle personal needs, help the needy pay basic expenses during the semester in Colleges, trainees during their out programmes in basic schools across the country, made use of the allowances to support themselves (Ministry of Education, 2004).
SEE ALSO: Colleges of Education Lack Needed Infrastructure for Trainees to Feed Themselves – President of Teacher Trainees’ Association of Ghana
In fact, the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo (2017) during the reintroduction of the allowance scheme emphasized the importance of teacher education and why such investments are necessary to securing the future of our nation’s education.
SEE ALSO: “We will be disappointed should the government scrap trainee allowance” – President, Teacher Trainees’ Association of Ghana
Removal of the teacher trainees’ allowances (cancellation) is a recipe for absenteeism and an increase in drop-outs in the Colleges of Education, which would affect the quality and the number of professional teachers from the Colleges of Education.
We recall the voices of influential persons like Professor George K.T Oduro (who is now the Chairman of the Education Conference Committee) opposed the idea of cancelling the teacher trainees’ allowances because teacher training had operated in the context of a social service, just as the training given to the Police, Armed Forces, Health, Agric and other social trainees.
This is no different a time, and I humbly submit that maintaining the teacher trainees’ allowances is a worthy and good thing to do.