Sacked teacher-trainees attempting suicide as one consumes poison

Some dismissed Level 100 Students of the forty-six Colleges of Education in the country are reportedly attempting suicide.

One of the affected students in Assin South in the Central region has reportedly committed suicide by drinking poison.

Another student at Koforidua Asokore SDA College of Education told Starr News she also attempted suicide. Sheila said she was sick during the first semester and was hospitalized in the midst of the Semester examination hence missed some of the papers.

“With my problem, I was shocked and even tried to murder myself. It was a certain girl who saw everything and shouted for help before people rushed to my rescue. It is not easy ! There are other students who are going through hell. A certain girl says her poor father is saying he can’t take care of her again because he has spent over Ghc4000 for admission. Some people are not able to go home because of societal stigma as I am talking to you some people are chocking somewhere they are unable to go home”

Background

A total of four hundred and sixty (460) First Year Teacher Trainees in the 46 colleges of Education in the country going to their Second Year have been dismissed.

The Students were rusticated over poor academic performances by the University of Cape Coast which is the affiliating University of the colleges.

The affected students are the first batch of Level 100 Trainees admitted in 2018/2019 academic year pursuing the four year Bachelor of Education Program

The B.Ed programme is the cumulative work undertaken by Ghanaian educators under the Transforming Teacher Education and Learning (T-TEL), a six-year (2014-2020) government of Ghana programme, funded by UK aid, and is intended to transform the delivery of pre-service teacher education.

The new Policy requires that all basic school teachers would have to study and attain a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) degree aligned to the NTECF to be delivered by the 46 Public Colleges of Education in Ghana through their affiliate public universities.

The affected students were sacked for trailing total of 15 credit hours subjects in their first year. There is widespread depression among affected students with some attempted suicide while others unable to return home for fear of being stigmatized

The affected students are accusing National Conference of Principals of Teacher Training Colleges (PRINCOF) and Teacher Trainees Association of Ghana (TTAG) for being indolent about their plight given that the First Year of their course was riddled with challenges.

According to the affected students, the over a month strike by Teachers of Colleges of Education piled pressure on them to complete a sixteen week curriculum in twelve weeks and as a result most topics were not treated.

Again,they claim the semester recorded incident of course outline variation among the 46 colleges of education creating academic confusion.

Apart from these the students also claim First Semester of First year was affected by “Inadequate Teaching and Learning Materials. TLMs to be used in the course of study were not enough and in some instances were not even in existence.Also Handouts to guide trainees in their course of study delayed in its provision and in most cases were not up to date”.

When contacted TTAG said it will speak on the development at the right time.