48,000 Teacher Trainees Paid GHC532m In Allowances – Ofori-Atta
The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori Atta has stated that 48,000 teacher trainees have so far been paid GHC532 million in allowances.
According to him, this is in fulfilment of the government’s promise to restore the teacher trainees allowances.
“Mr Speaker, I am proud to stand here and declare that the President has redeemed virtually all the pledges he made to the people of Ghana. 48,000 teacher trainees have been paid GHC532 million in allowances,” he said.
He made this known on the floor of Parliament when he was delivering the government’s 2019 Budget Statement and Fiscal Policy to the House on Wednesday, 13 November 2019.
Earlier this year, President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo announced a planned 10% increase in their stipend.
The government also started clearing arrears owed teachers as far back as 2013 to 2016, with respect to travel, transfer grants, and overtime.
However, the Minister stated that the government will continue to pay an expected number of 54,108 teacher trainees in the coming year.
“In 2020, government will continue with the payment of allowances to a projected number of 54,108 teacher trainees in all public colleges of education,” he said.
Agitations from Teacher Trainees
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, prior to the 2016 elections promised to restore the allowances of the teacher trainees.
This came after various agitations by teacher unions over the lack of adequate consultation in the rollout of the free SHS policy and its offshoot-the double-track system.
The then NDC government in 2014 scrapped teacher trainee allowance, despite several calls to compel government to reintroduce it.
However, government insisted the decision will allow it to expand various educational infrastructure in the country as well as remove the restrictions on admission to the various training institutions.
In recent times, the government has again been faced with a myriad of challenges in the education sector, including a failure to pay arrears of transfer allowances and promotion allowances, among others.
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