The government has set out GH67,943,652 towards the feeding and operation of Ghana’s colleges of education (CoEs).
Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, Minister of Education, revealed this at a press conference in Accra yesterday, saying the government was dedicated to keeping its commitments to the colleges.
The National Conference of Principals of Institutions of Education-Ghana (PRINCOF) expressed concern that the CoEs were struggling to feed teacher trainees at the 46 colleges since funds had been in arrears for more than six months.
PRINCOF has warned that if the government did not interfere with some sort of payment, the students would have had to pay for their meals in the coming days.
In a quick reaction, the Education Minister acknowledged yesterday that some funds had been granted to the CoEs.
“I am very happy today to inform you that the government has released GH¢67,942,652 to the CoEs.
“I know you might have read the media reports there were many calls on us to respond to the concerns of PRINCOF. We want to take advantage of your presence here to make the country know that the President of the Republic, the Finance Minister and all those who are to ensure that various promises made to CoEs are carried through have delivered on their promise, and that is why, once again, this amount has been released to the colleges,” the minister announced.
Background
In a statement issued last Tuesday and copied to the Minister of Education, the Executive Secretary of PRINCOF, Dr. Harriet Naki Amui, advised that teacher trainees begin funding their own food from May 8 if funds were not made available to the CoEs.
According to PRINCOF, the suggestion was necessary as a result of the institutions’ inability to pay for food supplies given to them.
According to the statement, food providers continued to send supplies to the institutions for months without payment, but they eventually stopped their services until they were paid.
“Most colleges now have food items that can last only one week if students are to be provided with three meals a day,” it emphasized and made four proposals to take effect from April 23 to ensure that there was no disruption in the academic calendar.
As part of the suggestions, PRINCOF stated that trainee teachers will get two meals per day, breakfast and dinner, for one week, from April 23 to April 30.
It further said that trainee teachers would be given just lunch from May 1 to 8 and that after that date, they would be required to provide their own meals until their feeding allowances were paid.
The statement said, “food vendors will be encouraged to increase the quantity of daily meals they cook for sale to students”.
Related Article: Trainee teachers to feed themselves starting May 8
Arrears
In addition, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Education, Kwasi Kwarteng, said that the funds collected will pay the arrears for the 2020-2021 academic year.
“The entire bill for the 2020-2021 academic year amounts to GH¢117,942,642, out of which GH¢60 million was settled during that academic year.
“So the funds released to be disbursed will cover the bill for the last academic year, and yes, the bill for 2021-2022 remains outstanding,” he indicated.
He went on to say that the funds will also be used to pay back teacher trainee allowances that had been overdue.
“The bill is in excess of GH¢100 million for the 2020-2021 academic year, and that includes the component to cover the allowance of teacher trainees.
“Thus the GH¢67,943,652 which has been released and will go through the process of disbursement by the relevant agencies will also cater for about four months of the trainee allowance, also outstanding,” Mr Kwarteng explained.
He underlined the minister’s pledge that the government was committed to assisting CoEs in their operations.
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SOURCE: GRAPHIC ONLINE
