The Coalition of Trainee Trainee Teachers has accused the government of deliberately delaying the payment of their allowances for five months.

“The very last time allowances were paid to trainee teachers was in July 2018. Since then, we have received mere assurances from the Minister for Education, Dr Matthew Opoku-Prempeh and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Students' Loan Trust Fund, Nana Kwaku Agyei Yeboah, that allowances were going to be disbursed 'soon'. The 'soon' assurances have taken each trainee teacher virtually more than five (5) months to receive his/her GHS204.00 as an allowance per month,” the Coalition said in a statement.

The trainee teachers say they consider government's inability to pay the outstanding allowances as unfair treatment, a breach of promise and an insult.

They allege that, although the government has failed to pay them, officials have sought to deceive the public that allowances are being paid to them.

“This very kind of communication has succeeded in convincing our parents that payment of allowances are still in operation, and it pre-informs our parents not to send us additional money for upkeep, buying of handouts et al,” the statement, jointly signed by its Leader Nana Yaw Obomeng-Paintsil and Secretary, Peter K. A. Nyamekye, stated.

Read the full statement below.

UNPAID TRAINEE TEACHERS ALLOWANCES - COALITION OF TRAINEE TEACHERS

We are highly saddened and disappointed in the Government of the Republic of Ghana for its deliberate failure to pay Trainee teachers allowances that have been outstanding for the past five months.

The very last time allowances were paid to trainee teachers was in July 2018. Since then, we have received mere assurances from the Minister for Education, Dr Matthew Opoku-Prempeh and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Students' Loan Trust Fund, Nana Kwaku Agyei Yeboah, that allowances were going to be disbursed 'soon'. The 'soon' assurances have taken each trainee teacher virtually more than five (5) months to receive his/her Ghc 204.00 as an allowance per month.

We consider Government's inability to pay the outstanding allowances as unfair treatment, breach of promise and insult to us since government officials, day in and day, inform the general public that allowances are being paid to trainees. This very kind of communication has succeeded in convincing our parents that payment of allowances are still in operation, and it informs our parents not to send us additional money for upkeep, buying of handouts et al.

We want to state categorically that the claims making rounds that allowances are being paid to us each month are false and malicious, and that, the last time a trainee teacher received an allowance was in July 2018.

We would like to use this medium to call on Government through the Students' Loan Trust Fund to disburse the five-month outstanding allowances with immediate effect in fulfilment of the President, H. E. Nana Akufo-Addo's promise.

We are extremely grateful and call on all relevant stakeholders to act swiftly on this important situation.