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| President John Dramani Mahama |
President Mahama has described
promises made by some political parties to restore teacher trainee allowance as
mere political propaganda. He made this comments when he addressed the media at
the flagstaff house on Tuesday.
President Mahama said the constant
shortage of teachers, particularly in the rural areas, necessitated the
withdrawal of the teacher trainee allowance and the subsequent introduction of
the Students’ Loan Trust Fund.
According to him, government
scrapped off the teacher trainee allowances to enable it increase the number of
trainees admitted each year, a move which would eventually help address the
adequate number of teachers in the country. Adding that, this move has created
equity among students in the various colleges of education and the
Universities.
Government last year withdrew allowance
paid to teacher trainees, a policy that sought to incentivize persons who
wanted to train as teachers. This decision by government received a lot of
backlash from Ghanaians for being anti-social democrat.
The 2016 running mate of the main
opposition NPP flagbearer Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and his flagbearer Nana
Akufo-Addo have promised to restore the allowance should they win the 2016
elections.
"The withdrawal of the allowances
of the teacher trainees has so far reduced the burden on government to move the
admission of teacher trainees from 9,000 students to 15,000 students in the
2015/16 academic year,” President Mahama said.
He commended Ghana National Association
of Teachers (GNAT) and other teacher associations for their contributions that
had raised the standard of education over the years and promised to provide all
the necessary support that would enhance the performance of teachers.
He added that; “I don’t think it’s
necessary to us to inject politics into policy making. Policy making must be
consistent so that we are able to make is more predictable and more useful to
our country and to say we are teacher anti-social is mere propaganda.”
Emmanuel Dzivenu
(Radio Univers)
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