[ 2015-04-17 ]

NPP will restore scrapped teacher, nursing trainees' allowances - Bawumia
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) will restore
allowances paid to teacher and nursing trainees if
it wins the 2016 elections.

The vice presidential candidate of the main
opposition party Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia gave the
assurance in the Volta region where he is visiting
constituency executives and students.

He said the reasons being given by the current
National Democratic Congress (NDC) government for
scrapping the allowances is untenable, since the
education and health sectors are essential for
development.

“We are trying to build a globally competitive
economy. We are a team and cannot ignore
anyone,” the former deputy governor of the Bank
of Ghana told Volta Premier FM ahead of a lecture
at the Ho Polytechnic.

“When we put in the national health insurance it
wasn’t for a particular region, when we come in
and restore the teachers training allowances it
will be for everybody.

“The teachers are a different kettle of fish
from any other graduate anywhere else. We can’t
make education a preserve of the rich and the
allowances are critical for people enjoying these
allowances. Families depend on them and we’ll
restore it,” Dr Bawumia emphasised.

He added: “We need motivated teachers and nurses
and if you don’t have that you’ll not get
quality. Remember when we were a HIPC country
without oil we were affording teacher and nursing
training allowances and now that we are a lower
middle income country with oil we are saying we
can’t afford it… let’s not prioritise
judgement debts and GYEEDA and corruption. Let’s
prioritise education and health and the right
thing to do is to restore the allowances.”

Protest
Earlier this week, it will be recalled that a
planned programme dubbed Campus Connect, organised
by the Ministry of Education was disrupted by some
students selected from various institutions in the
Ashanti region.

Though the students reported at the venue at the
Wesley College in Kumasi, they walked out when it
was time for the Deputy Minister of Education
in-charge of tertiary, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwah to
address them.

The students said their action was to protest the
withdrawal of teacher trainee allowances by the
John Mahama administration.

Source - Starrfmonline

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