A total of 28, 467 teacher trainees have been paid their monthly allowances as at November 24, 2017 for the 2017/2018 academic year.
According to the management of the Students Loan Trust Fund (SLTF), allowances for October and November have been disbursed to all Colleges of Education that presented school lists on time.
A statement issued by the Trust to refute media reports of non-payment of the reintroduced teacher trainee allowance, the SLTF explained that for those colleges that presented their lists late, “payment of both October and November allowances is being paid this month.”
The statement, signed by George Ferguson Laing, Senior Public Relations Manager of SLTF said there have been some challenges with the data of some students including presentation of wrong SSNIT numbers, misspelling of names, wrong e-zwich numbers, and duplication of student data, adding that “once these anomalies are corrected, the affected students will be paid all their outstanding allowances.”
Also, it said “many colleges are yet to present complete data of their first year students. Once this is done, they will be paid their outstanding allowances.”
It explained that by the agreed timetable with stakeholders, allowances are payable at the end of every month in which trainees are in school.
“The SLTF is committed to putting in place a rigorous disbursement system that will protect the public purse and serve its stakeholders efficiently,” it said.
The statement indicated that prior to the reintroduction of the allowances, the SLTF which is now mandated by government to disburse the allowances, held extensive consultations with the Principals of Colleges of Education (PRINCOF) and the Teacher Trainee Association of Ghana (TTAG) to agree on the modalities for payment.
The SLTF also visited all 41 Colleges of Education who are benefiting from the allowance to educate the trainees on the conditions they need to satisfy to benefit from the allowance. For trainees to benefit from the allowance, certain conditions must be met by the trainees and their respective Colleges of Education.
Among the requirements, it said the trainees must be duly registered in the academic year in their institution, must obtain a SSNIT number and an e-zwich account number onto which the allowance is paid electronically.
The College of Education must in turn forward a list of all eligible students to the SLTF for verification and payment.
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