The New Patriotic Party in the run up to the December 2016 general elections has promised to abolish payment of utility bills by students in all accredited public tertiary institutions in Ghana when elected into power. Following the NPP’s campaign promise in 2016, the Ministry of Education under the auspices of Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh has published a statement in fulfillment of NPP’s 2016 manifesto on the subject matter.
The statement which was captured in the NPP 2020 manifesto document under item 1.6 section 101 on page 54 on “Accounting to our stewardship” disclosed that, government’s introduction of Tertiary Education Policy abolished the payment of utility bills in tertiary institutions.
Few hours after the New Patriotic Party (NPP) 2020 manifesto was launched at the University of Cape Coast on 22nd August, a former National Secretary of the Teacher Trainees’ Association of Ghana (TTAG) Mr. Nicholas Kelvin Agboni has immediately made a shocking post on his Facebook wall revealing some untold facts about payment of utility bills in the Colleges of Education.
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According to him, the government has not abolished payment of utility bills for tertiary students in the Colleges of Education. Speaking further, he said, though the component of the utility levy doe not appear on the original bill sheet of teacher trainees, the money is being deducted from their allowance deductible of GH¢196.00 paid into every College account.
Mr. Nicholas Kelvin Agboni expresses worry and disappointment in the government, especially the Ministry of Education for publishing a false information in such an important public document.
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READ BELOW THE FORMER TTAG SECRETARY’S FULL STATEMENT.
NOTE: This is never a political post nor propaganda, but setting the record straight.
I have read through the NPP 2020 Manifesto, which was launched a while ago to make an informed decision ahead of the December 2020 polls. Surprisingly, l met a section under “Accounting for our stewardship” item 1.6 section 101 that reads;
PROMISE: “Abolish the payment of utility bills by students”
WHAT WAS DONE SO FAR: Implemented. The Tertiary Education Policy abolished the payment of utility bills in tertiary institutions ”
The fact is that, since l went to CoE in 2015 and successfully completed in 2018, teacher trainees have paid utility bills throughout their stay in College.
When l was the National Secretary of the Teacher Trainees’ Association of Ghana (TTAG) between 2017 and 2018, we paid utility bills throughout our training in College.
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As leadership, we have had series of engagements with the Sector Minister Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh, the Executive Secretary of NCTE, PRINCOF, and the Vice President of the Republic H.E Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia but the issues was not addressed since.
Currently, teacher trainees are still paying utility bills indirectly. The fact is that, the utility levy does not appear on the bills, but the deductions were made from the allowance deductibles (GH196.00) paid into the CoE accounts by government. We presented this issue officially to MoE, NCTE, PRICOFF, and Veep, but nothing was done about the subject matter until l left College.
Yes, it was on paper that, the utility bills has been abolished for tertiary students but CoE students still pay.
I am really sad, that, such an important issue, which has not been address was captured in the NPP Manifesto.
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It’s a fallacy that, government has abolished payment of utility bills for teacher trainees in the Colleges of Education, unless CoE Students are not considered tertiary students.
Notwithstanding that, if government claims its outfit is not aware of the utility bills deductions, then, our monies must be refunded.
But, Veep, Education Minister, Executive Secretary of NCTE, PRINCOF can’t say, they were not informed.
There are more documents to support this.
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Find attacked a section of the NPP 2020 Manifesto document that captured the information and an aspect of a resolution from TTAG Congress when issues became though.
