The Ranking Member on Parliament’s Education Committee, Peter Nortsu Kortoe, wants the government to hold a stakeholder engagement to arrive at ways of funding Colleges of Education in the country.
His call comes on the back of an earlier announcement by the Principals of the institutions detailing a new meal rationing due to the delay in the payment of six-month feeding arrears by the government.
But for the timely intervention of the government, teacher trainees risked providing for their own meals from May 8, 2022, because their institutions are cash-strapped. The government has released over GHS67 million to the public Colleges of Education to cater to the feeding of trainees.
Speaking to Citi News, Peter Nortsu Kortoe said finding a lasting solution to this challenge should be considered.
“Now, it has dawned on the government. They have come to real terms with the challenges we saw years ago. I am of the view that the government must engage stakeholders for the way forward and find how we can sustain the Colleges of Education.”
The teacher trainees vowed to resist all attempts to deprive them of their three square meals per day, although the Principals said the directive was the best option to prevent a disruption in the schools’ academic calendar.
Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Adutwum, disclosed that the government through the Finance Ministry has acted swiftly by releasing GHC67,942,662 to principals of the various Public Colleges of Education to salvage the situation.
It is however not clear whether the amount released by the government is sufficient to clear all the debt to pave the way for suppliers to supply food to the schools.
The development has raised questions about why tertiary students, like those in the teacher training colleges, should be fed by the State.
But the Chairman of the Conference of Principals of Colleges of Education (PRINCOF), Dr. Emmanuel Nyamekye, says the current structures in the various Colleges of Education make it necessary for teacher trainees to be fed.
According to him, although Colleges of Education are tertiary institutions, they cannot be run like universities where students feed themselves.
“They [Colleges of Education] are what I call a special group of people. Special in the sense that, in the Colleges of Education, we have dormitories and not halls of residence, so if we ask them to feed themselves it is going to be very difficult because they are not in the position to do so because of the structures that they use.”
