44,000 Teachers Quit Teaching In 2021 Academic Year

Approximately 44,000 teachers out of the 284,000 public basic school teachers quit teaching in the 2021 academic year alone, the Deputy Ranking Member on the Education Select Committee of Parliament, Dr Clement Apaak has disclosed.

In a social media post sighted by EducationWeb.com.gh, the Member of Parliament for Builsa South Constituency said the figure of government teachers who left the teaching profession represents 15%, the highest increment in 20 years.

“44,000 teachers out of 284,000 basic school teachers left the teaching profession in 2021 alone. This is 15%, the highest in 20 years. Why did they walk away from the classroom, and how soon will they be replaced?” he quizzed GES.

In a related development, Education Think Tank – Africa Education Watch has called on the central government to cancel the monthly allowance paid to students in public Colleges of Education (CoE) in the country each year.

Describing the teacher trainee allowance policy as wasteful, EduWatch said the GHC 242 million to be spent on the Colleges students as their allowance can recruit 6,000 extra teachers that are urgently needed in the rural schools.

The Ministry of Education (MoE) must scrap this wasteful policy and prioritise its spending amid dwindling budgetary resources due to the national revenue and debt situation,” the Think Tank said in a press statement on Monday.

Mr Kofi Asare, the Executive Director of the Education Watch indicated the teacher trainees in the various government Colleges of Education (CoE) across the country are mature enough to cater for their feeding while in school.

“If I were an advisor to this government, I would recommend that the GH¢ 250 million being spent on teacher trainees feeding allowance in 2022 be rather used to employ an extra 7k teachers,” the Education Policy Analyst stated.

But, the Ministry of Education (MoE) reacting to his proposal has said the Akufo-Addo led administration is committed to paying the trainee teachers and nurses allowance erstwhile the John Dramani Mahama government cancelled.

The Education Ministry debunking claims the allowance has been cancelled for this academic year said it has not engaged in any consultations whatsoever regarding the cancellation of the teacher and nurse trainees’ allowance.

Kwasi Kwarteng, the spokesman for the Ministry in a release said the government is committed to paying the allowance to Colleges of Education students and trainee nurses to support them through the course of their school training.

Credit: Educationweb

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