Cancel teacher trainee allowances – Kofi Asare to Ken Ofori-Atta
Ahead of the budget reading for the 2022 fiscal year, the Executive Director of African Education Watch, Kofi Asare has asked the Finance Minister to reverse the teacher trainee allowance which he terms an “anomaly”.
Mr. Asare noted that “The Government of Ghana has already spent over GHC 600 million on teacher trainee allowances since 2017; an amount that could build over 1,500 JHS for the 4,000 primary schools without JHS due to no cash”
He charged Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta to use today’s Wednesday, November 17, 2021 budget reading to cancel the allowance. “The Finance Minister has an opportunity to reverse this anomaly today,” he stated.
According to Mr. Asare, “We cannot transform our basic education if we continue spending hundreds of millions on food for teacher trainees who could access student loans, at a time 20% of Primary School graduates cannot enter JHS, especially in deprived districts”.
“Building JHS with this cash would rather open more teaching opportunities for thousands of unemployed teachers,” he said.
Meanwhile, the 2022 Budget, according to the Finance Ministry, will focus on expanding the economy’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The budget would dwell on “creating a climate-friendly entrepreneurial state to address unemployment and import substitution,” it said in a statement, on Monday.
Source: Richard Mensah Adonu | Join our Telegram Group
