Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare, has criticised the continued payment of teacher trainee allowances, describing the policy as wasteful and financially unsustainable.
According to him, the resources being used to fund the allowances could be redirected into more productive areas within the education sector, particularly the recruitment and payment of additional teachers.
Speaking in an interview with TV3 Ghana on Tuesday, May 12, Kofi Asare argued that Ghana must begin re-evaluating long-standing education policies that consume significant public funds without necessarily delivering the best outcomes for the country’s education system.
He maintained that teacher trainee allowances no longer serve their original purpose and should be scrapped in favour of investments that directly strengthen teaching and learning in schools.
“The allowance is wasteful. We won’t discuss it again. It is wasteful. Everybody knows it is wasteful. That amount can hire about 400 teachers every year if we cancel the allowance today. That is the equivalent of paying close to 400 teachers’ salaries a year. And the next one is the GH¢500 million allowance paid to nursing trainees.”
The teacher trainee allowance policy was reintroduced to provide financial support for students in colleges of education and encourage more people to enter the teaching profession.
Beyond the issue of trainee allowances, Kofi Asare also called for major reforms in Ghana’s teacher recruitment system.
He advocated replacing the current approach of automatic teacher recruitment after graduation with what he described as a “demand-driven teacher employment” system.
According to him, teachers should only be recruited based on specific vacancies and the actual needs of schools and districts rather than through blanket postings.
“If you go to advanced jurisdictions, when there’s a teacher vacancy, an advert is made from the district level, whether in the UK or in Canada, an advert is made at the district level. So the advert is made for a specific vacancy in a particular school. If you are a teacher and you qualify, and you have the relevant subject, knowledge, expertise, and you qualify based on experience, you apply.”
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