Police stop teacher trainees from picketing at Education Ministry
The Police on Wednesday prevented some teacher trainees from picketing on the premises of the Ministry of Education (MoE) in Accra to demand the payment of arrears of their feeding allowance.
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Efforts by the leaders of the trainees to send a delegation to meet the Minister of Education, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang to discuss issues relating to the unpaid arrears and the salaries of newly trained teachers were unsuccessful.
By 9:30 a.m. some members of the Teacher Trainees Association of Ghana (TTAG) drawn from the regions had gathered at the entrance of the ministry, demanding to meet the minister.
They were, however, stopped by armed policemen from the Ministries Police Station, on the grounds that the action by the students violated the Public Order Act which required any group of persons desirous of demonstrating to notify the police in advance.
Illegality
The Crime Officer of the Ministries Divisional Police Command, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Mr Daniel Dzam-Tse, asked the leaders of the TTAG to leave the entrance of the ministry, since their presence posed a security threat to the staff of the ministry and could possibly attract more people to the area.
“Your presence on the premises of the ministry is illegal because if you want to stage a demonstration, you need to inform the police for protection and state clearly the issues that have necessitated your action.
“Any further delay in leaving the premises of the ministry will amount to unlawful gathering, and you know very well that the law frowns on it. Go back and do the proper thing,” he ordered.
Left with no option, the frustrated students had to vacate the premises, but not before they had stated their case to journalists who were present.
The narrative
The National Coordinator of TTAG, Mr Shadrach Abbey, explained that the group took that line of action because all steps taken to have the issues addressed by the appropriate authorities, especially the Minister of Education, had proved futile.
“We have every reason to conclude that the government has little regard for teacher trainees. Student nurses have been paid their allowances, while those for teacher trainees have been cancelled.
“Upon all this, the government still failed to pay the feeding fees of teacher trainees. Just recently, the allowance for national service personnel has been increased by the same government that cannot pay our feeding fees. This is not good for the future of teacher education,” he added.
Explaining further, Mr Abbey said each student in the 38 colleges of education (CoE) was owed an accumulated feeding fee arrears of GH¢506, a situation that had made it difficult for them to concentrate on their studies.
“The Vice-President, Mr Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, on the campaign trail at the Fosu CoE, stated categorically that the government had released more than GH¢ 50 million to pay the outstanding fees.
“But National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) sources revealed that only GH¢11 million was released. Even with that, cheques issued to the principals of the colleges to defray some of the debt all bounced because there was no money,” he said.
He added that the salaries of newly trained teachers who had been teaching for more than three months after completion had also not been paid.
Mr Abbey said the group feared that the change in government with effect from January 7, 2017 would deepen their woes, if the arrears were not cleared before the current government handed over.
Ministry’s response
In a related development, the MoE, a press release dated December 28, 2016 and signed by its Head of Public Relations, Mr Dan Osman Mwin, stated that the arrears of GH¢50.5 million had been paid to the CoEs.
The statement said “the amount covers arrears for the second semester of the 2014/15 academic year, the first semester of the 2015/16 academic year and half of the second semester of the 2015/16 academic year”.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, Mr Osman explained that the claim by the leadership of TTAG that the arrears had not been paid was untrue.
He could not state the date on which the arrears were paid but explained that the official in charge of finance was not around to give the exact date.
He, however, blamed the principals of the CoEs for not properly handling issues, adding: “I do not know why the MoE will deceive the public that the arrears have been paid if that is not the case. The principals never made any claims that cheques that had been issued to them bounced and that is why it is unfortunate that they have not been able to handle the students’ grievances well,” he added.