“Robbing Peter to pay Paul” is a common adage in Ghana. This would be the pictorial view in any unlikely reinstatement of the teacher-trainee allowance. You ought to appreciate the fact that ordinary men on the street pay more to sustain the teacher-training in the Public Colleges of Education.
Following his earlier story on the same subject matter headed “Flika Writes: Teacher-Trainee Allowa nce, The Hidden Truth”, the writer, in this issue explains why the reinstatement of the teacher-trainee-allowance would be an evil deed.
He holds the view that the NPP had been ill-informed of the realities in the “partial withdrawal” of the teacher-trainee allowance. Singling out the trainee-allowance in the entire package of the teacher-trainee education is a biased sampling technique since teacher-trainee- allowance was not the only good item on the list of goodies for the teacher-college education. It was an entire package. Unless one is told this truth, he would be tempted to believe that the trainee-allowance is everything in the College of Education. In fact, that the Public Colleges of Education offer a mouth-watering opportunity for immediate employment after Tertiary Education is not anything to go by.Dust has been thrown in the cursory observers eyes.
Following the withdrawal of the teacher-trainee quota policy by government (which automatically withdrew the trainee-allowance), there has been a number of agitations. Main agitators are the teacher-trainee union, TTAG and GNAT and the New Patriotic Party (NPP)
Strategically, the NPP through its running mate, Dr. MahamaduBawumia has been promising the trainees that future NPP government would reinstate the teacher-trainee-allowance at all cost. Really? So what is the cost?
The latter, however, had failed to assign any reason why they would like to reinstate it, even though the ruling Government had give n convincing reasons why the policy had been withdrawn. Well, the then EC’s Dr. Afari Djan once said, evidence is the name of the game. The JDM ‘toaso’ government provided evidence in defence of the withdrawal.
I don’t hold a certificate in political science so I am unable to do much of the politicking. My social science education is what I can, however, share.
Should you care to know, this writer takes you through what our poor farming parents are likely to cough out on daily bases when they face their back to the scorching sun just to make these expensive ends meet. Now this is what is involved:
All teacher trainees who enjoy trainee-allowance had their allowance pegged to the Late Prof. Mills’ single spine salary structure. The single spine salary structure places every teacher-trainee at level 8 step 1 in the first year and level 8 step 3 for those in the third year.
Level 8:1 today is valued at GHS 600.00. Giving that we have sixteen thousand, four hundred and thirty-two (16,432) teacher trainees in the 43 Public Colleges of Education who have completed their 3-year Diploma in Basic Education (DBE) means that we have a weighted average of sixteen thousand, four hundred and thirty-two teacher trainees (16,432) at each level of the teacher training level. These sums up to forty-nine thousand, two hundred and ninety six (49,296) teacher trainees in the public colleges of education for each academic year.
Since each teacher-trainee is entitled to GHS 600.00 trainee-allowance every month, we would spend twenty one thousand six hundred Ghana Cedis (GHS 21,600.00) on each student to complete his training program. And for the entire student populace, the state would have to cough out twenty nine million, five hundred and seventy seven thousand six hundred Ghana Cedis (GHS 29,577,600) each month and three hundred and fifty four million nine hundred and thirty one thousand, two hundred Ghana Cedis (GHS 354,931,200) every year. This is what the figures are saying. And this is the value equivalent of the tax paid by the poor man in your holy village.
The entire 3-year teacher education would cost an average of eight thousand, nine hundred Ghana Cedis (GHS 8,900.00)ordinary man’s wallet. Now, this is how it works out…
Admissions fee together with exams registration would cost approximately GHS 2,200.00. The second semester would also cost around 1,500.00. That is GHS 3,900.00 for the first year. The second year would also cost about GHS 3,000.00 for the entire two semesters. In the final year, a cost of GHS 2,000.00 would be borne by each mentee in other to complete the public College of Education.
So whilst the government would have to commit 21,000.00 in favour of each teacher trainee, the actual expenditure by the average teacher-trainee is GHS 8,900.00. This gives an excess teacher-trainee- allowance of GHS 12,100.00.
Is that how we want to go? Do we as a nation have that muchmoney? Considering the endless infrastructural challenges facing Ghana’s educational sector? Would we not rather benefit more if we were to redirect this fund into improving the quality of teacher education so that more students would benefit than just a handful ‘demonstrating’ students?
Besides, it would interest you to note that whenever any collegestudent is on a semester break, they continued to enjoy the teacher-trainee allowance. The Teacher Trainee Association of Ghana (TTAG), out of the monthly teacher-trainee allowance deducts membership dues at source from each teacher-trainee. That had been the union’s major source of revenue for its operation. This is the reason this writer suspects the teacher trainees and their union are peeved. The NPP is likely to also bag-inn sympathy votes from the wailing students.
In any case, given the facts presented in this write-up, this writer holds the opinion that it would be economical to make Public Colleges of Education free of fees, than to reinstate the teacher-trainee allowance.
If you are the president of the republic, would you commit the nation to paying this much as students’ allowan ce?
The writer David K. Flika is a social analyst and a postgraduate student at the UCC.
Email: [email protected]
Source: The writer David K. Flika
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Flika engages in sophistry and emotional blackmail to justify the withdrawal of the teacher-trainee allowance and in the process hides behind a seeming objective analysis to pull wool over the eyes of Ghanaians as he does pure politicking by strategically dropping campaign refrains in his seeming educational piece! First, by the policies put in place by the Ministry of Education and the GES, Flika peddles untruths when he asserts that "the College of Education ... offer a mouth watering opportunity for immediate employment..." Secondly when Flika talks about our 'poor farming parents' he is only inciting us against our teacher trainees. The same 'poor farming parents' basically support other aspects of our population including Flika! Is he telling us about that? Again, and I will rest my case after that, he glibly rolls out numbers to pretend that the public purse over supports our teacher trainees! Flika's pen, please come out with details of factual assertions and let's debate the issue dispassionately. Your current write-up is a sham!
Great piece of work. For me the argument comes back to whether to reinstate the quota system and restore allowances or to allow for the current status quo to remain so that more people can have access to the training institutions. you cant just have the two. let politicians be truthful for God sake.
I think there is some sense in the suggestion, granted the facts based on which the analysis was made hold. It may be a smart move to make it free than to give the allowance.
what a deception and ignorance. but did the writer hear the president reinstating the allowance after daring the consequence. please just keep you ignorance and deception to your self. do you know the amount govt spends on ex-gratia and salaries of ministers and appointees? do not use these simple logic here. you are in govt so you can say anything but lose and we will know you will see sense, how you will pay your bills. happy the president has young kids, we shall see how they develop in this system and loan he is busily going for. its your time jaw! talk and talk
Peace FM should not give such junk space on its website. ns3m hunu kwa!
These facts were there before this government came to power but yet still the previous governments were able to pay these allowances.My brother, do you know how these allowances have helped some of us?
Money's paid to Woyome, GEEDA< ISOPHTOn, INKOMFEM ETC can pay for that SIMPLE and SHORT
Please writer go ask your inept GOV'T in power where they got the money to buy freebies like hair driers, gas cylinders, silver pans, out-board motors, laptops, V-8 Cross country cars for chiefs etc. Social analyst what?. Give us a break. We need brains to rescue our nation from non-achievers.
Very reasonable and educated piece of writing. how can government be paying these monies and still be able to provide us with the, hospitals, polyclinics, chipcompounds, roads, good drinking water, reliable electricity and transport,creat jobs for the youth etc. NPP is desperately decieving us after reading this post with the facts and figures because Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has just said it publicly 2TALK IS CHEAP without letting we decending ghanaians to know where and how NPP will get monies from to pay Teacher Trainees allowances. Once again thank you for your education on this teacher trainees allowances.