Government should scrap allowances paid to teacher trainees and channel the funds into improving working conditions of teachers in rural areas, policy think tank IMANI-Africa has said.
The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) promised to restore the payment of the allowances effective September 2017. A provision of GHC103 million has been made for the payment of allowances to all 43,570 trainees in the 43 public Colleges of Education.
The teacher trainee allowance policy was introduced in the 1960s as part of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s agenda to attract more people into the teaching profession. It was repealed in the early 1970s but had to be reinstated in the 1980s due to mass exodus of Ghanaian teachers to Nigeria.
IMANI-Africa in a statement said the teaching profession has generally become unattractive as about 75 per cent of teachers will not recommend the profession to others due to low levels of job satisfaction and poor working condition, which is some of the major reasons for high teacher attrition.
To this end, IMANI-Africa says: “The re-introduction of the teacher training allowance can potentially compound the challenges as there could be a re-emergence of the quota system. The GHS103 million allocated means an allowance of GHS198 per month per student compared to the GHS450 per month enjoyed previously.”
The policy think tank noted that given that enrolment increased by 25 per cent in the 2015/16 academic year even after removing the teacher trainee allowance, it will be prudent for the government to explore the reasons underpinning the increase.
“Resources spent on the teacher trainee allowance policy can be channeled to more critical and sustainable use such as improving working conditions of teachers especially in the rural areas. Improving working conditions on its own can attract more talented and brilliant students to the profession and significantly reduce the teacher attrition. This can significantly reduce the 45,000 deficit,” the statement said.
Source: Class FM
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just because you are out of your senses and also a national ***barred word*** you think every parent do so to take care of thier wards instead of thinking others are orphans. i pray God washes away the ***barred word*** all from your mind and reinstall into your brain a positive one. .......................... amen
npp now in power can add up other incentives to teachers to make the profession most attractive in ghana
why now,you should made known to us before elections.Ghanaians can not be ***barred word*** again.every single promise to ghanaians must be fulfilled.ghanaians voted for all these promises and so please do not go there koraaaaaaaaaaaaaa hw3.
JM Nyame w)h) wai. All evil plotter will be unveiled. Why now saying this cudjoe
Frankling does not anything live on donor funding what donors tell him is he what he does get away.
am surprise Imani did not raise this issue during the run up to the election....God is watching u allll
No wonder politicans are sending their children to private schools because folks like this guy do not understand the difference between Education & acquiring PhD.
This guy need psychiatric evaluation! Just saying.
I strongly disagree. The allowances are necessary to motivate new breed of teachers. What the govt has to do is to make the cost of living in Ghana cheaper by massive re-engineering of the supply chains of food and housing. This means homegrown and localised efforts at making food production sustainably effiecient is required. When this is fixed, living conditions in rural areas will improve and deplorable conditions in urban areas will reduce. It will reduce the 'gap' between rural-urban teaching conditions. We need incentives for teachers. Not the opposite.