Haruna Iddrisu, the Minister of Education, recently announced that the government will discontinue feeding allowances for teacher trainees in colleges of education across Ghana.
This announcement was made during a meeting with principals from various colleges of education in Accra. The Minister explained that the government can no longer sustain this allowance, as it does not align with global best practices in higher education.
Instead, the government plans to introduce an enhanced student loan scheme to assist students in covering their living expenses, including meals.
The purpose of this change is to make government spending on education more sustainable while encouraging financial independence among teacher trainees.
“There is no reason to provide meals for students at the tertiary level, so we need to transition from the allowance to an enhanced student loan that allows them to feed themselves. However, in the interim, they will still receive the allowances. I cannot accept the idea of a student in higher education being fed,” stated Haruna Iddrisu.
According to the Minister of Education, moving away from feeding allowances for teacher trainees is a crucial step toward more sustainable government spending on education, while also promoting self-sufficiency among future teachers.
