Speaking to Citi News, the National President of the Teacher Trainees Association of Ghana, Jonathan Apam, explained that an extension of the academic calendar had become necessary in order for the students to stand a better chance of passing their upcoming exams.

[contextly_sidebar id=”8wk9QSqP5ViGsch8L13lMGJ3Pf9jmT33″]“They should postpone the academic calendar from where it has been scheduled for because exams are upcoming. Institute of Education should look into the academic calendar. No government institution or stakeholder will say, when students pass out of the result of the strike, they will only say they didn’t learn and that’s how come they failed or were sacked out of the colleges “he said.

The trainees had earlier warned that if government fails to ensure the return of their tutors to the classrooms soon, they would be forced to take other steps to bring pressure to bear on the administration.

Jonathan Apam, at the time, described the consequences of the strike as dire, hence the need for government’s immediate intervention.

“We are trying to propagate the effects of it [strike] because it appears government is not aware of how the strike is affecting students. For about two, three weeks now, our teachers have not been teaching. This is the time that second years are doing all methods of teaching. This is the time that we have newly admitted students. This is the time that trainee teachers in the basic schools doing their teaching practice are supposed to be supervised. If we fail… we will be sacked. Cape Coast or Institute of Education will not care whether there was a strike or not,” he said.

Colleges remain closed

The 38 Colleges across the country remain closed after djalogue between the government and striking members of the Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG), yielded no result.

CETAG have been on strike since November 2, 2017, demanding the immediate payment of their nine-month salary arrears, allowances and market premiums.

The tutors are also seeking improved conditions of service.

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By: Farida Yusif & Akosua Ofeiwaa Opoku/Citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The association has in recent times intensified its call on the Ministry to release funds for their feeding grants, which has been in arrears for some three semesters.

But the Ministry in a statement last week said it had paid the amount.

Jonathan Apam, President of TTAG in an interview with Citi News said, “We have checked from NCTE and the money is not there and the Ministry of Education has given us a memo saying that they have given the money to us. So we find this as a deception.”

[contextly_sidebar id=”MHpQGYphet5iLThsfLnnzJp3TmzdSMMy”]He said the Education Ministry must come clear on which agency or institution it purportedly paid the arrears to, so that the association will follow up to receive their monies.

Mr. Apam said he believes the Ministry’s claims of payment is only meant to diffuse the tension created by the association following its public outcry over the situation.

The Ministry in a press statement earlier said it has released a total of GH¢50,532,000 for the payment of grants for public Colleges of Education across the country.

According to a press statement signed by the Head of Public Relations, Dan Osman Mwin, the amount released covers arrears for the second semester of the 2014/15 academic year, as well as the first half of the second semesters of the 2015/16 academic year.

The group attempted to picket at the premises of the Education Ministry and the Ghana Education Service (GES) on Wednesday, to demand the payment of the feeding grants, but were stopped by the Police.

Earlier this year, the government scrapped allowances of teacher and nursing trainees, and promised to pay them feeding grants. But according to TTAG, government has not fulfilled the promise.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @jnyabor

The post Education ministry lied; feeding grants still unpaid – TTAG appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The ministry’s announcement contradicts claims by some members of the Teacher Trainees Association of Ghana (TTAG), that it has not received its feeding grants from government for the past three semesters.

The group attempted to picket at the offices of the Education Ministry and the Ghana Education Service (GES) on Wednesday, to demand the payment of the feeding grants, but were stopped by the Police.

According to a press statement released by the Ministry of Education and signed by the Head of Public Relations, Dan Osman Mwin, the amount released covered arrears for the second semester of the 2014/15 academic year, as well as the first half of the second semesters of the 2015/16 academic year.

The statement said, the Ministry had noted that a request for the outstanding half of the feeding grant for second semester of the 2015/26 academic year, has been made to the Ministry of Finance.

TTAG in an earlier statement copied to citifmonline.com said, “we would like to state our displeasure at the outgoing government for their gross display of negligence and neglect towards the fate of colleges of education and newly trained teachers across the country… the Government of Ghana over the years has treated teacher trainees so poorly and has refused to pay feeding grants to students after the scrapping of the teacher trainees’ allowances and several unfulfilled promises even by top officials like the President and the Vice president.”

Earlier this year, the government scrapped allowances of teacher and nursing trainees, and promised to pay them feeding grants. But according to the President of the Trainee Teachers Association, Ekow Paintsil Djan, the government has not fulfilled the promise.

He told Citi News, “They are owing us for about 3 semesters. For the current first years government owes that GH¢550. For the current level 200, the government owes than GH¢1,200 and those in level 300 government owes them Gh¢1,200 and those that have been posted, government owes them GH¢550.”

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @jnyabor

The post Feeding grants for teacher trainees paid – Gov’t appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

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

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