The issue of allowances for trainees was a major campaign issue prior to the 2016 general elections and has risen after the nomination of Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang who was then the Education Minister.
Scores of trainees were not happy about the cancellation but the opposition party at that time promised to restore the allowance.
The running mate to the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, says the John Dramani Mahama government never scrapped trainee teachers’ allowances.
Addressing tertiary students in Bolgatanaga in the Upper East Region on a two-day working visit, she said;
“I will come to a sensitive subject which I think should be dead by now. We [NDC] never cancelled teacher trainees’ allowance. Cancelling means that you have something and I came to take it away from you. This is the last time I am going to talk about this because we never did that. You know very well that those who were on the loan scheme continued to enjoy it until they graduated. So we never took anything away from them. We gave one-year notice to those who were coming that we were going to give you loans and added means. Today how much do you get and how much are they taking from you?”
“Those in the training schools are crying over fees. We will be open to you. We will be honest with you. We want you to know what you are coming into. We will not lure you through the door and then begin to tell you stories,” she said.
Source: TheBBCghana.Com
