Principal of the St. John Bosco’s College of Education, Prof. Joseph Amikuzuno is advocating the cancellation of the Teacher Trainee allowance.
Prof. Amikuzuno argued that the allowance has not only outlived its usefulness but has become a hurdle to admission into the Colleges of Education.
He indicated that although the colleges have the capacity to train more teachers for the classroom, they are now restricted by government to admit under a quota way below their intake capacities.
“Last year, we had over 3,000 applicants seeking admission into St. John Bosco College but we could only admit 300 and even that 300, we went over a quota that government had given us.
Government asked us to admit only 270 but somehow, we admitted more. In other words, if 11 applicants wanted to come St. John Bosco College of Education, qualified applicants, we could only pick 1 out of that 11. That’s how terrible it is,” he lamented.
This, in his view, will worsen the pupil – teacher ratio especially in rural areas.
He wants government to cancel the allowance so that they could admit more and institute a loan scheme to aid students, who are not financially sound, fund their education at the colleges.
Prof. Amikuzuno contended that, unlike in the past when the allowance was seen an incentive to attract more and brilliant students into the training institutions, many students are now seeking admission into the Colleges of the Education because of the guaranteed job opportunities they offer thus, scrapping the payment of the allowance will not affect enrolment.
“Without the allowance, we will still have students trooping in the colleges because they know that when they complete the colleges of education, they have jobs as teachers to begin with. So from my point of view, the allowance should be off, the trainees should be given loans”.
Payment of the teacher trainee allowance was a major campaign issue in the lead up to the 2016 Elections.
The then Mahama’s administration had cancelled the allowance and replaced it with loan.
But the then opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) chastised the decision and promised to restore if they won the elections.
Although the promise has been fulfilled, payment of the allowance has been inconsistent.
