The Minister of Education, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, says the government will transition students at the colleges of education onto an enhanced student loan scheme to ensure the delays in accessing financial support by the students are dealt with once and for all.
He said even though that remained the plans of government, such transition decision would only be taken based on recommendation that would emanate from the impeding education dialogue proposed by the President, John Dramani Mahama.
Mr Haruna Iddrisu (middle) with some of the stakeholders after the meeting
The Minister who disclosed this during a meeting with some Principals of Colleges of Education at his office over the weekend in Accra, however, assured that teacher trainee allowance would be maintained for the time being.
The education conference, scheduled between February 17 and 20 is aimed at addressing the challenges facing the country’s education sector.
Mr Iddrissu said “But more importantly you raise the issue of student allowances, it will continue. The continuation of student allowances is crucial, as it directly impacts the well-being and future prospects of students,” he said.
The minister said the move was to promote autonomy and self-sufficiency among students to ensure development.
“There is no way you should be feeding a student at the tertiary level offhand. We will work out a transition from the allowance into an enhanced student loan for them to feed themselves but in the interim they will still get the allowance,” he said.
The Minister of Education expressed gratitude and commendation for the efforts made to resolve pressing issues affecting the teaching staff at colleges of education.
Mr Iddrisu acknowledged the challenges facing these institutions, particularly in terms of infrastructure deficits and lack of academic facilities.
The Minister assured that the government would make sufficient allocations to address these issues, although he noted that the allocations may be inadequate due to competing demands from various educational levels.
“When I say inadequate in the sense that we have to share the bread and we have to share it from preschool, junior high school, senior high school, tertiary but we particularly take note of you,” he assured.
For his part, the President of the Principals of Colleges of Education (PRINCOF), Professor Samuel Awinkene Atintono, highlighted several challenges facing the education sector, emphasising the need for urgent attention from the Ministry of Education.
“As you call on us, there’s always need for us to dialogue, and I’ll probably give you an update to let you see how the colleges are standing, what are the issues,” he said.
Prof. Atintono noted that despite the progress made in implementing degree programmes in colleges of education, several challenges persisted.
Prof. Atintono also expressed concern about the delayed payment of allowances, which has caused hardship for teacher trainees and appealed to the minister to intervene and ensure that the allowances were paid promptly to ensure that students were comfortable to learn effectively.
Furthermore, the professor drew attention to the issue of infrastructure deficits in colleges of education, adding that many institutions lack basic facilities, including classrooms, libraries, and operational vehicles.
“I would want you to take note and kindly intervene, otherwise, it becomes an issue and this impedes the learning process,” he said.