The Teacher Trainee Association of Ghana (TTAG), has given government up to close of day today [Friday], to pay their feeding grants or they will “advise themselves.”
President John Mahama and his Vice, Kwesi Amisah-Arthur have on different platforms said, the government continues to pay the feeding allowances to trainee teachers after scrapping of teacher trainees’ allowance.
But according to the trainee teachers, the government has failed in providing the feed grants for one academic year.
The President of the Association, Jonathan Apam told Citi News, the trainees are forced to pre-finance the grants.
“Government has gone round announcing every day that it feeds us daily, three times and that our feeding grants will always be given to our principals to feed us but what happens is that we have to pay GH¢560 every semester such that the government refunds.”
“For the past semester and this semester which is almost going to an end, but the government has refused to refund the money we have already paid.”
He lamented that in spite of a recent announcement by the Vice President that the grants have been disbursed to the National College of Tertiary Education of the school yet they have been give the monies.
“We just had an announcement given by the Vice President that the monies have been released. GH¢50 million have been given to NCTE for disbursement to college and as it stands now, when we inquire, we don’t know the whereabouts of the money. And that is why we are charging government that we are giving them from today, up to tomorrow, [November 25], if we do not hear anything from them, we will take action against the government.”
Jonathan Apam at an earlier press conference said the association was unhappy with “government’s lack of facts and inattentiveness taking due cognizance of the teacher trainees welfare.”
He said, the claim that government t has upgraded their status to the tertiary level where a degree was awarded after course was false.
He said the government appears not to take their education seriously.
Speaking at the press conference, he said, ‘’It is sad to say that accommodation, feeding, transportation, provision of teaching and learning materials as well as all other expenses were their [trained teachers] responsibility”
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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana