Delayed payment of student teacher grants – TTAG The government reportedly failed to pay teacher training subsidies by about seven months because the country was suffering from financial difficulties. According to the Ghana Institute of Teacher Trainees (TTAG), this development exacerbates the financial difficulties of trainees across the country. Jonathan Zune, TTAG National President, said the 2021/2022 school year allowance from January to July 2022 was overdue for seven months. He spoke at the 26th TTAG General Assembly at the University of Education of St. Francis in Hohoe, Volta region. Zunu said student teachers continue to struggle to make a living and find it difficult to buy materials at school. He said the allowance is helping to combat poverty by relaxing teachers of students studying in primary school and teaching internships. He argued that food shortages were imminent at colleges of education as suppliers hesitated to deliver food to colleges because they could not pay for previous deliveries. “The current financial difficulties in the country make it possible to imagine the difficulties students are facing. Living without permission on campus has become extremely intolerable to us. Chair Madam, we say that the significant delays in payment of allowances have regained time, and the small benefits brought about by the introduction of teacher training allowances have historical background and positiveness that led to the implementation of the grant system. I believe it will decrease when you think about it. It has had an impact over the years, especially on teacher education and general basic education, "he said. Due to the current economic and financial crisis, Mr. Zunu appealed to the government not to use the student's allowance as a sacrificial lamb, and said that "payment of the student's allowance should be the highest priority." Entrance exam Dzunu also suggested that teacher license exams, introduced three years ago, should be part of the courses offered at universities to combat high failure rates. “Most student teachers are unfamiliar with educational standards and frameworks, so national educational standards and national curriculum frameworks are part of the course structure of colleges of education. I think that if the student teachers are thoroughly instructed in the entrance examination course and spend enough time for practical training before the entrance examination, the failure rate will be significantly reduced. " According to the data available, 69% of the 128,493 candidates who took the entrance exam in the last three years passed. 84 test takers took the test 5 times and 372 test takers took the test 4 times, but have not passed yet. According to Dzinu, this is a concern and therefore indicates TTAG's intention to digest the above proposal and meet with stakeholders to design a plan for its successful implementation. Infrastructure challenges Gunu emphasized the challenges of infrastructure and how they hinder academic activities, "forcing normal schools to operate two-track systems." He lamented that the construction of projects such as auditoriums, dormitories, classrooms and teacher bungalows, which started in 2016, has been stalled for unknown reasons. He advised the government to work with charities and philanthropists to ensure that they had sufficient infrastructure to accommodate all four-year groups on campus. He also called on teachers' unions to work with university management to build dormitories and expand campus infrastructure to accommodate the growing student population. He urged Ghana Education Services to send teachers to a community that can communicate in the local dialect so that students can receive effective education. "Current systems do not guarantee that newly qualified teachers will choose the region or district they want, so new qualified teachers will choose to avoid language barrier issues. We need to reintroduce a system for seeking subsidies from our district education offices. " He called on teachers' unions and the authorities of teacher training colleges to introduce a system to identify and sponsor the training of excellent but poor student teachers.
blogpay
Total Comments: 0