Teacher Trainee Allowance Is Wasteful, Must Be Abolished

Africa Education Watch has advised the government to cancel the payment of allowances to trainees in the Colleges of Education in the country.

Kofi Asare, executive director for Africa Education Watch, has described the payment of allowances to trainees in all colleges of education as a wasteful expenditure, so the government should abolish it. 

“I think the budget failed to appreciate that, a certain wasteful expenditure that should leave the education space, especially teacher trainee allowance. The government has repeated that it intends to spend 241 in 2023 to feed adult trainees who are in tertiary education and have the right to access student loans just like other tertiary students”, he said at the Citizen’s Coalition organized in Accra on Thursday.

government wants to cut down their expenditures, as stated in its 2023 budget, it should abolish trainee allowances.

Kofi Asare continued to say that the government must cut down on wasteful expenditures and spend more on the vulnerable. He lamented that the government is spending more on the Free SHS than the free lower school education, causing a detriment in the quality of the lower school education. He urged the government to help enhance the quality of lower education.

Eduwatch petitioned parliament to reject the GHC1.8 billion allocated to the Ghana Education Trust Fund(GETFund) in the 2023 budget, stating that the fund is woefully inadequate to fulfil the purpose of the establishment, which is to enhance quality education. 

The opined that the sharp decline in 2023 allocation raises serious concern about the formula used in capping the GETFund in the 2023 budget and if it is in accordance with the Earmarked Funds Capping and Realignment Law.

“Going by the 25% capping under the Earmarked Funds Capping and Realignment Act, 2017 (Act 947) and the history of allocations in line with the same, we estimate that at least GHC 2.7 billion, representing 60% of the total 2022 GETFund Levy accruals of GHC 4.6 billion should get allocated to the GETFund for 2023.”

The Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) is a public trust set up by an Act of Parliament in 2000. Its core mandate is to provide funding to supplement government efforts to provide educational infrastructure and facilities within the public sector from the pre-tertiary to the tertiary level.

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