The Akufo-Addo/Bawumia NPP administration owes Ghanaians an explanation and an apology for breaking a commitment it made to the country's citizens.
The present NPP administration kept its commitment to reinstate a watered-down version of the teacher trainee payment. And they gave the Ghanaian people their word that they wouldn't bring back the quota system, which prevented more people from becoming teachers. Since then, they have changed course.
The primary reason for the introduction of the admission quota system for public colleges of education for the 2022–2023 academic year is due to the government's inability to finance the feeding grant and allowances for as many who qualify and want to train as teachers, as is clear from the leaked GTEC letter to the Principals of Colleges of Education.
The GTEC letter, dated December 16, 2022, which includes a list of allocations per college, emphasises unequivocally that allocations to different colleges cannot be changed and must be followed. For the avoidance of confusion, the payment of feeding subsidies and trainee allowances shall be determined by these statistics, the letter said.
The largest number of students allotted to a college is 320, and the lowest number is 160, according to the allocations list that is attached to the GTEC letter to the principals of the colleges of education. The consequence of this abrupt policy shift is evident in the fact that only a pitiful 12,002 prospective teacher trainees would be admitted into the 46 Colleges of Education for the upcoming academic year, according to the list of allocations provided.
This translates to an average of 260 students per College, which is a blatant waste of space and a barrier to preparing additional teachers—who are desperately needed.
There is thus little question that the admissions quota system will prohibit a large number of hopeful candidates from being accepted into colleges of education. And unfavourable effects are a given from this. A fair chance to get admitted will be denied to many talented and deserving applicants who sincerely want to become teachers due to partisan-influenced protocol admissions and the "whom-you-know" mentality when there are thousands of excellent applicants vying for a small number of available positions.
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