Principals Of Colleges Of Education Want Students To Fend For Themselves

The National Conference of Principals of Colleges of Education, Ghana (PRINCOF) has proposed independence among Colleges of Education students across the country.

This was contained in a letter to the Minister for Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum on October 31, 2022.

With the permission of the Minister, the principals would from Monday cease fending for the students.

The proposal, the Conference said, is a result of the stagnant feeding fee provided by the government whereas prices of foodstuffs skyrocket.

“Prices of all food items have shot up astronomically, and food suppliers have refused to supply any food item to colleges because of indebtedness of Colleges to these suppliers,” a part of the letter said.

Per the letter, the government pays Colleges GHc6.50ps per student for a three square meal and requests for an upward adjustment have fallen on deaf ears.

“In light of the above, it is the wish of PRINCOF to be given permission to ask students to start fending for themselves”.

According to the Conference, their request is aimed at preserving the academic calendar which is already stretched.

This is not the first time the principals have agitated for students to become independent in relation to feeding.

Earlier in June, PRINCOF threatened to stop feeding teacher trainees over the government’s failure to release feeding allowance.

They said students would from May 9, 2022, provide meals for themselves, however, the timely intervention of the government in releasing funds forestalled their threatened action.

Inflation in Ghana has risen to close to 40% with food inflation narrowly exceeding the average inflation rate at 37.8%.

The Principals’ call comes a few days after the Ministry of Education announced the release of feeding fees for Senior High School (SHS) and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) schools.

It said GHc198,106,603 was released since the beginning of October- GHc126 million to the National Food Buffer Stock Company for non-perishable goods and GHc72 million to SHSs and TVETs for perishable schools.

The Ministry of Education is yet to respond to their request.

Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini