Teacher trainees in the country are unhappy over delays in the release of their monthly allowances which have been in arrears for six months.
According to them, the delay has brought undue hardship upon them.
They have consequently given the government a three-week ultimatum to pay them the allowances or face their wrath.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Association of Teacher Trainees said although the restoration of the allowance by the Akufo-Addo government received widespread commendation due to its critical role in easing the financial burden of trainees, they have been left with a feeling of uneasiness due to the failure of the government to pay the allowance on time.
“It is worth stating that most trainees rely on the allowance to settle their school and examination fees hence the delay in its payment caused some trainees not to sit for the end of semester examination across various collages. Again, the level 400 teacher trainees started their out-program segment (internship) in early September where they had to rent their own rooms, feed themselves, travel from their stations to campus to submit project works and so on,” the statement stated.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, prior to the 2016 elections promised to restore the allowances of teacher and nurse trainees which had been cancelled by the NDC government in 2014.
The NDC government said the decision was to allow it to expand various educational infrastructure in the country as well as remove the restrictions on admission to the various training institutions, and to make it possible for the trainees to also access student loans.
The Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta in 2019 announced that the government had paid 48,000 teacher trainees GHC 532 million in allowances.
He also announced that the government will continue with the payment of allowances to a projected number of 54,108 trainee teachers.