Payment of allowances: Hygiene students demand fairness

Students of the Accra School of Hygiene, Korle-Bu, have staged a protest against a directive by the school authority to vacate the school premises on or before 12 noon on Tuesday, September 8, 2020.

The school management explained that the decision was made based on a letter received from the Students Representative Council (SRC) dated Monday, September 7, to suspend their end of semester examination. 

“Recent letter from the SRC proposed this date (September 7) for the end of semester examination and was considered by management, hence, the preparation of a new time table for the exams to commence on Tuesday, September 7.

“In view of this new decision by the SRC to suspend the exams again, management has resolved that all final year students should vacate the school for their homes on or before 12 pm on Tuesday, September 8, until further notice,” it stated.

Allowance for graduates

The President of the Students Representative Council (SRC) of the Ghana School of Hygiene, Korle Bu, Mr. Freeheart Owusu Ampomah, told Graphic Online, that their decision suspend the exams was due to unfair mode of payment of their training allowances.

“We received clearance for the payment of our allowances on Tuesday, September, 8, however, the clearance indicated to the Controller and Accountants General Department to pay us just 10 months allowance. Final year students are to receive 30 months allowance, which is GH¢12,000, Second-year student; GH¢ 8000 for 20months, and First-year; 10months for GH¢4000,” he said.

"Also, graduates from all three School of Hygiene; Korle Bu, Ho, and Tamale, who were part of the allowance have been scraped off according to the clearance," he said.

 Engagement with Sanitation Ministry

 Mr. Ampomah, however, noted that the student leaders,  on Monday, September 7, met with the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, to which the ministry promised to correct the errors on the clearance.

 “The Sanitation Ministry said it will on Wednesday meet with the Finance ministry to correct the errors. We hope that all goes well but we think the ministry is using the school authority as a tool to scrap some students out of the allowance. We do not accept this and won’t accept the 10months pay as well,” he said.

School authority

Meanwhile, the Acting Principal of the Korle-Bu School of Hygiene, Mr. Isaac Newton Dzahene, in an interview with Accra based Citi FM, expressed displeasure in the manner in which the students were handling the issue, noting that it was beyond the school authority.

 “We want them to finish the academic year and go home…. What they are demanding is beyond the school authority. The payment of their allowances has gone past the school, and they together with the media are aware that the matter has reached the ministerial level.

“What we can do is to prepare the ground for them to write the exams, which we did and yesterday. They themselves propose that they want to write the exams, now they have come out to say that they won't write the exams again, what are we going to do again,” he said.

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