The Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu has disclosed that the provision of feeding allowance for teacher trainees does not align with global best practices for higher education.
For this, he has announced the government’s decision to suspend the provision of feeding grants to students in the teacher training colleges.
The Minister made the disclosure at a meeting with principals of various colleges of education in Accra Tuesday, February 04, 2025.
In his explanation, he said the government can no longer sustain the policy, arguing that feeding of tertiary students should not be a responsibility of the government.
According to him, it is not feasible for government to bear that cost at that level of education.
The government’s alternative for students, the Minister noted, is to replace the feeding grant with enhanced student loan scheme to empower the students to cater for their living expenditure including feeding.
Aside from fostering a sense of independence among teacher trainees, the Minister noted that the initiative will help the government to sustain spending in the education sector.
“There is no way you should be feeding a student at the tertiary level so we have to work out a transition from the allowance into an enhanced student loan for them to feed themselves.
“But in the interim, they will still get the allowances. I cannot conceive of a student in a higher education institution being fed,” he noted.
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