The National Convenor of the Teachers and Trainees Advocacy (TTA), Antwi Karikari Patrick has hinted that the cancellation of allowances by government will be very suicidal for teacher trainees across the country.
According to him, the cancellation will not only make things difficult but also bring life to a standstill.
Speaking on a Kumasi-based radio station, Mr. Karikari said "The cancellation will be suicidal on the part of teacher trainees regardless of the fact that the colleges are tertiary on paper and not in activities"
He added "during my time as the former TTAG National Public Relations Manager, we were the student leaders on the cross line to fight for the restoration of the allowance in 2016 because we knew the kind of things we went in/through.
Mr. Karikari also revealed that although opportunities were given to trainee teachers to access student loans but the procedure was too stressful and sometimes the attempt to secure the loan on several counts proved futile .
"Four to five years now, there has not been any campaign calling for the cancellation of the allowances for teachers. There is no shred of doubt that they need it.
Statistics have proven that as at the time it was removed by the previous government, the reduction of the people having the passion to get into the institutions declined drastically.
The reintroduction of the allowances positioned the colleges well for more enrollments.
He, however, mentioned that the cancellation of the allowance will fuel more exodus of teachers outside the country after their training.
Mr. Karikari, who is also famously known as 'Commandant' in the teacher trainees fraternity stressed that should that happen, it will cost the country greatly.
"There are a lot of cracks and even those within, some of them wish to bow out because of those cracks. Should they leave, what will we do as a nation?" he questioned.
The National Convenor noted that the allowance provided serves as a bond between the authorities and teachers stressing that it boosts them to teach well.
He appealed to authorities to rescind their thoughts on cancelling the allowance.
"The allowances is helping them. The government of the day gave their word and they have to ensure, they fulfill it"
They knew the huge amounts en mass to be disbursed for the allowances but they still went ahead to fulfil their promise and reintroduced it.
We have nothing to loose as a country. Let's maintain it and successive governments must keep paying to trainee teachers.
Story by: Joshua Kwabena Smith