We‘ll bring back ‘Alawa’ - Bawumia

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) vice presidential candidate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has assured students of Colleges of Education and Nursing Training institutions throughout the country that the NPP administration would restore the allowances which have been cancelled by the Mahama administration, when voted to power in 2016.

“I cannot understand the management style of the NDC that students at the Colleges of Education and nurses allowances were not removed at the time the nation had not found oil and I can not also understand why at the time Ghana had discovered oil and more money is derived from the oil find, allowances of students at the Colleges of Education and Nurses’ Training Colleges have been removed; it does not make sense,” he said during his recent tour in the Volta Region.

According to the NPP vice Presidential Candidate, teachers are a different ‘kettle of fish’ altogether and that they could not be treated just like graduates from any of the universities, because after training they are posted to the communities to work, stressing that under the Nana Akufo Addo-led government education would not be made the preserve for the rich.

Dr. Bawumia expressed regret that all the social safety interventions left by the NPP under the leadership of former President Kufuor, including the National Health Insurance Scheme and Youth Employment programme among others, have all been destroyed by the NDC as a result of mismanagement and high level of corrupt practices.

He said the NPP is the only party that could rescue the country from the bad governance it is experiencing currently, because the party would engage people he described as more competent, who would have total control of the economy, noting the NPP would transform the economy from tax expansion to production that would revamp socio-economic activities and bring back hope to Ghanaians.

Dr. Bawumia disclosed that the interest that government would be paying on loans in 2015 is six times more than the oil revenue of the country and appealed to the people of the Volta region to consider voting for the NPP in 2016, because the region just like the other nine regions would have its fair share of development projects and activities that would improve their living conditions. The tour took the NPP Presidential Candidate to Sogakope, Aflao, and Ho.

Meanwhile a group describing itself as Teachers’ Coalition for Good Governance (TCGG) says it supports the recent demonstration by teachers’ trainees against the withdrawal of their allowances by the government.

A statement signed by Afia Kodua and six others noted that: “To withdraw one of the few incentives left for those who aspire to join the profession is an absolute folly.” the following is the full statement.

Following the recent demonstration by trainee teachers concerning the withdrawal of the teacher training allowance, TCGG wishes to take a stand in solidarity with our hardworking student educators.

The education of young minds, our leaders of the future is a task that is of utmost importance. It is therefore imperative that the profession of teaching should attract the best and the brightest to its ranks.

Attracting the best and the brightest thus requires suitable incentives to draw the nation’s talents to what should be a highly valued profession. It is thus baffling that, in withdrawing the teacher training allowance, the Mahama administration has decided to proceed with a course that counters the aforesaid logic.

Over the years, the undervaluing of teachers had already, hitherto, been marked – evident by poor salaries, poor conditions and the gradual withdrawing of benefits. To withdraw one of the few incentives left for those who aspire to join the profession is an absolute folly.

The profession is crying out for top talent. Teachers who have been in the profession for decades decry the continuous decline in standards and the poor calibre of many new teachers coming through the system compared to the days of yore. This is not the fault of the teachers themselves, but the fault of the system from which they came.

Teachers do not join the profession for the money, but because of a heartfelt desire to make a difference to the lives of future generations as role models and instructors. Hence, TCGG believes that the withdrawal of the teaching training allowance is the latest in a long line of “slaps to the face from government”.

Should this undervaluing of teachers continue, the future prospects of children’s education in this country will be at stake. Why should talented school leavers consider teaching as a profession if this is how the government values them? Yes, there will always be those that desire to be teachers. But if the current government carries on with its self-defeating course, it will not attract the best and the brightest.

As a result of government’s conduct towards trainee teachers, the foundations of the future of this country are being hurt. We therefore urge government to immediately restore the allowances and also pay serious attention to the human resource in the education sector.