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Shortly after the Teacher Trainee Association of Ghana (TTAG) threatened to picket at the Ministry of education on December 28, 2016 for the non-payment of the grant, the Ministry of Education released a statement saying a total of GHS 50,532,000 had been released for the payment of grants for public colleges of education across the country.

But after a week, TTAG has revealed no money has hit the accounts of the various training colleges contrary to claims by the Education Ministry to have released Ghc 50m for the payment of feeding grants.

The TTAG clearly embittered by the outcome, has said the ministry’s claim is deceptive and unreliable, describing it as a cover up.

The Public Relations Manager of the Association, Isaac Wiafe, said checks from the National Council for Tertiary Education and the Principals’ Conference show that no money has hit the accounts. “We carried out thorough checks and from the enquiries we did, no money hit our accounts; the supposed check that was released by the sector ministry bounced,” he said

He explains that further delays threaten the teaching and learning process, adding that some principals are preventing students from writing exams until the arrears are cleared. “One thing that hurts us is that, the principals are forcing the students to pay the fees they are owing or they will not be allowed to write their exams and the third year trainees that are out there doing their teaching practice have been told they will not be supervised by any supervisor if they owe,” Isaac Wiafe lamented.

Isaac Wiafe added that the biggest fear is that these grants may never be paid if the incoming government takes over on January 7. He therefore charged the current government to “as a matter of urgency” pay the feeding the grants.

He  further stressed that teacher trainees have exams in about three weeks and it is imperative that government pays the feeding grants with immediate effect.