Trainee teachers livid over restoration of allowance

The Trainee Teachers Association of Ghana(TTAG) has expressed skepticism over the announcement by the governing New Patriotic Party(NPP) that their suspended allowances of trainee teachers and that of nurse will be paid by next two months.

According to the Acting President of TTAG Jonathan Apan, they will not rejoice because an announcement has been made in the media.

He said what they are waiting for is for the money to hit the account of teacher trainees across the country.

He maintained the monthly allowance of five or four hundred Ghana among others has been the backbone of support for many teacher trainees across the country, so when the the leadership of the then opposition NPP announced its restoration as part of their campaign promise many were happy because it is out of the allowance that many pay their utility bills, rent and buy books during the in-out-in programme(attachment).

He said this not the time for trainee teachers to be happy and ‘we will only be happy if we see the money sitting in the account.

Mr Apan expressed this skepticism when he interacted with Accra-based Neat FM over the announcement that the trainee teachers and nurses allowance will be paid this March in the Ghanaian Times, newspaper.

He explained that many of the trainee teachers voted massive for the NPP taking into cognizance their sufferings since the allowance was suspended in 2012 by the out-gone National Democratic Congress.

He noted that what was troubling was the purported loan from the Student’s Loan Trust Fund adding that many have gone for the loan and cannot finish paying because the interest kept catapulting over the years.

He explained that this is no time for jubilation but the main jubilation will come if the moneys hit the accounts of the Accountant-General’s Department in Accra for onward release to trainee teachers.

He noted that many of the members of the association voted on the basis that the NPP promised to restore the allowance to trainees.

‘Sometimes trainees have to buy learning aids out of these same allowances when they go on the field to assist them to better teach their students’.