A spokesperson for the Ministry of Education, Kwasi Kwarteng, has stated that there are no ongoing conversations to scrap the payment of teacher trainee allowance.

According to him, despite the rumours, the government is still paying the allowance, adding that scrapping the allowance does not guarantee an automatic solution to all challenges faced by Colleges of Education in the country.

In an interview  with JoyNews monitored by GhArticles.com, Mr. Kwarteng said, “so far as the Ministry is concerned, there has been no such conversation on the scrapping of allowance and as at now, the allowances are being paid, the allowances on authority, categorically, have not been scrapped.”

He explained that although some people are calling for the removal of the allowance, there have been studies that support it.

“If you look at the allowances, there are a lot of other studies making a very strong case for it, we have students buying their books, handouts with it and a lot of things also goes into it as well,” Mr Kwarteng added.

This follows the circulation of rumours that the allowances for teachers and nursing trainees would be scrapped off in 2022. The Ministry in 2021 had denied the rumours. However, that did not stop people from wondering as payment of the allowances delayed.

After the budget presentation, in November 2021, data from the 2022-2025 budget preparation guideline document pegs total allocation for both teacher and nursing trainee allowances for 2022 at ¢401.1 million.

Of this amount, nursing trainee allowance (¢231.2) for the period represent 57.6 per cent while teacher trainee allowance (¢169.9 million) represent 42.4 per cent of the total projected allocation of ¢401.1 million.

Reacting to this, the General Secretary of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), Julius Kwame Anthony says government must reconsider the payment of teacher and nursing trainee allowances.

He said, “I know suggesting that the state stops paying the allowances is the unpopular opinion, but friends, when that dialogue begins I’ll make an analysis on what the alternative to this consumption expenditure could be.

“We need to have a conversation around this and it starts when the last penny in arrears is paid. Government must reconsider the teacher and nursing training allowances,” he said.

Meanwhile, Vice President of policy think tank IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe has advocated for the scrapping or reordering of the allowance.