Teacher trainees demand refund of feeding fee
The Teacher Trainees Association of Ghana (TTAG) has called on the government and principals of the various colleges of education to refund money owed its members as soon as possible.
Advertisement
According to the leadership of the group, the government and the principals owed members of TTAG feeding fees for the 2014/2015 academic year and the first semester of the 2016/2017 academic year.
He explained that the students were made to pay feeding fees as a component of the academic user fees, even though that had been absorbed by the government.
At a news conference in Accra on Tuesday, the President of the association, Mr Tagbor Sampson, said it was, therefore, illegal for teacher trainees to be compelled to pay feeding fees.
“We the trainees will demonstrate against the government if it fails to refund the money that we have already paid,” he said.
He, however, conceded that the students were reimbursed in the 2013/2014 academic year when the government took over its payment.
According to Mr Sampson, refund of the fees was normally delayed, to the extent that final-year students did not receive it because it was paid after they had completed their courses.
Meanwhile, he called on all members of TTAG not to pay any amount that would be forced on them as feeding fees, as well as utility bills.
He also appealed to the colleges to desist from forcing students to pay the feeding fees and rather collect them from the government.
Petition
In a petition copied to the Ministry of Education, the Ghana Education Service (GES), the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE), all principals of colleges of education, sector presidents and media houses, TTAG described as uncalled for and an abuse of trainees’ rights the situation where some students were debarred from writing examinations because of their inability to pay feeding fees.
