The leadership of teacher trainees in Colleges of Education in the country has vowed to resist all attempts to deprive them of their three square meals per day.
It follows a new directive by the National Conference of Principals of Colleges of Education – Ghana (PRINCOF) following delays in the payment of six-month feeding fees arrears by the government.
The trainees will from May 8, 2022, feed themselves according to the new directives.
According to PRINCOF, this is the best option to prevent a disruption in the schools’ academic calendar.
But President of the Teacher Trainee Association of Ghana (TTAG), Jonathan Dzunu, says a meeting has been scheduled with the Education Ministry for Friday, April 22, 2022, to discuss the concerns.
“Our position as students is that we don’t support the decision of PRINCOF. The Principals are taking this decision because they have not been given a feeding component that comes with the allowances. So if you are asking the students to go and feed themselves, where will they get the money from. So our position is that this should be solved as soon as possible. Students cannot be starved. We want to meet the Ministry of Education and tell them what we want them to do”, he said.
PRINCOF’s proposals
In a statement, PRINCOF said, “suppliers have backed their threats of not supplying any food items to Colleges with concrete action by not supplying Colleges with any food items until they have been paid money owed them.
To ensure a smooth academic calendar, PRINCOF says it has adopted the following measures:
Trainee teachers will be provided with two meals, breakfast and supper only for one week, from April 23 to April 30, 2022
Trainee teachers from May 1 to May 8, 2022, shall be given lunch only.
After May 8, trainee teachers would be asked to provide their own meals until their feeding allowances have been paid,” it said.
Food vendors are being encouraged to increase the quantity of daily meals they cook for sale to students.
“These measures are meant to ensure that there is no disruption of the academic calendar,” the statement ended.
