President John Dramani Mahama has cleared up the public confusion surrounding two separate housing initiatives for teachers, explaining that the Teacher Dabre project and the newly announced 3 billion cedi housing scheme serve entirely different purposes and should not be mistaken for one another.
Speaking at the commissioning of a PET scan facility at the Swedish Ghana Medical Centre in Accra on Wednesday, the President said Teacher Dabre was specifically designed to provide accommodation directly on school campuses for teachers posted to those schools, so that educators did not have to commute long distances from town to school and back every day.
He said the initiative was about ensuring that teachers posted to communities away from where they live had a dignified place to stay on site.
The three billion cedi housing scheme, which the President announced over the weekend at the Green City Housing Project launch in Kumasi, is a different and broader initiative.
That scheme, being developed in collaboration with the Labour Unions [GNAT inclusive], Republic Bank, the State Housing Company (SHC), and the Tema Development Corporation (TDC), will provide mortgages for teachers and other public sector professionals.
Houses under the scheme will be designated in cedis rather than dollars, with professionals able to make a down payment and have the remainder deducted from their salaries over a number of years, owning their homes outright by retirement.
The President said both initiatives reflected a wider government commitment to ensuring that teachers were not just recognised for their contribution to national development but actively supported in ways that improved their daily lives and professional conditions.
Richard Aniagyei, ISD
