The debates on the cancellation of the teacher trainees’ and nurses trainees’ allowances in the recent times have captured the headlines, where political parties struggle to justify and clarify issues regarding the cancellation and restoration of the trainees’ allowance.
You will recall that, the former president John Dramani Mahama has been lashed with criticism and lifetime mockery when he made a statement that, he will continue to pay the teacher trainees’ and nurses trainees’ allowances which many believed was cancelled by him during the NDC regime.
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According to a section of Ghanaians especially the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) communicators, the former president John Dramani Mahama has cancelled trainees’ allowances after winning the presidential election in December 2012. They strongly believed that, the allowance was restored by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in 2017 after winning the December 2016 presidential elections in line with his electioneering campaign prior to the elections.
Meanwhile, others including the largest opposition political party National Democratic Congress (NDC) hold the view that, the trainees’ allowances have not been totally scrubbed. According to them, John Mahama introduced a new and unique ways of paying teacher trainees allowances which they described as feeding grant for all teacher trainees and nursing trainees.
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In a latest development, a tutor of a College of Education who spoke to coverghana.com.gh news team and subsequently released a statement on unanimous agreement not to reveal his identity has cleared the airwaves on the subject matter. He therefore clarifies issues on the debate concerning payment of trainees’ allowances and feeding grants in the Colleges of Education. Read below his full statement.
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The deception about the teacher trainee allowance – The bare facts
In fact, Mahama did not scrape the allowance totally. In place of the allowance, the NDC government gave trainee over GH¢1,100 yearly as feeding fee. In addition, students had the opportunity to take a loan.
Now, what the NPP government did upon assumption of office was to maintain the yearly feeding fee and gave GH¢200 to every student monthly for only 8 months. In effect, each trainee now receives GH¢1,600 yearly in addition to what was already there.
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Now, the comparison
During Mahama’s time, trainees were getting automatic posting after completion once you pass all your exams. This means you will receive full pay right from the outset of the first year.
Under Akufo Addo, trainees are supposed to undergo one year mandatory National Service which means the trained teacher will receive one third of his/her normal pay in the name of National Service.
The deception
Currently, a trained teacher in his/her first year of teaching loses over GH 9,000 in the name of National Service compared to GH 4,800 given to that student in the name of allowance for the whole three years in school.
…A tutor…
