Category: Education

Mr Stanley Quaynor, the Accra Metro Director of the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), has appealed to the Ministry of Education to ensure that Ghana’s indigenous languages gain prominence in the school curriculum.

Mr Quaynor told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that to preserve the languages, the sector ministry and the Ghana Education Service (GES) must ensure that the languages of the 16 regions were adequately taught in the schools in the region.

‘The appeal to the GES has to do with the fact that in the Greater Accra region, for instance, most schools are not offering a course in the Ga language, which is ‘killing’ the language,’ he said.

He further said the current educational policy had also made the local language optional for the Basic Education Certificate Examinations.

According to him, these things were detrimental to the development and growth of the country’s indigenous languages, which the International Mother Language Day (IMLD) sought to address.

Meanwhile, the Accra Metro NCCE O
ffice, as part of the commemoration of International Mother Language Day, held a day’s Ga language reading session at the Kaneshie Bishop Basic School, as one of the 15 selected schools to observe the day in the Greater Accra region.

Mr Quaynor said the IMLD, which was celebrated annually on February 21, was instituted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism.

He noted that the celebration was in recognition of the two students of East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, who were shot and killed by the police in 1952 during a demonstration for the recognition of their language, Bengali, adding that the first IMLD was held in the year 2000.

He said the theme for the observation of IMLD 2024 was ‘Fostering multilingualism for inclusion in education and society,’ aimed at ensuring that all languages were valued and respected in education and society, contributing to inclusion and promoting cultural her
itage.

He said a UNESCO report indicated that 40 per cent of the world’s population had no access to education in their mother language.

The NCCE, as part of promoting the reading of the Ga language among pupils, presented six copies of Ga language storybooks to the host school.

Source: Ghana News Agency

There was pandemonium in Sunyani on Tuesday, when hundreds of aggrieved parents and guardians besieged the premises of the Bono Regional office of the West Africa Examination Council (WEAC).

The Ghana News Agency (GNA) gathered that the Council invited the visibly angry’ parents and guardians in the region, together with their children and wards, over the cancellation of some subjects in the 2023 edition of the West African Senior High School Examination (WASSCE).

WAEC withheld some subject results of candidates from 235 schools for giving artificial intelligence-generated answers during the WASSCE.

The examination body announced the cancellation of subjects’ results of 3,647 other candidates for bringing foreign materials such as prepared notes, textbooks and printed materials into the examination halls, in a statement issued on Monday, December 18, 2023.

During a visit to the WAEC office in Sunyani around 1100 hours, it was hectic for the heavy Police presence to maintain law and order, as some of the p
arents picked quarrel with officials of the Council.

According to some of the parents, they arrived at the WAEC office as early as 0500 hours when they received the invitation through text messages and added however, at 1100 hours no official of the Council had engaged them.

They blamed the Council for negligence and incompetence, a situation they added paved way for the candidates to engage in the supposed malpractices which led to the decision to cancel and withhold some of the results.

In an interview, Dr Ameyaw Akumfi, an Accra-based Reverend Minister and a concerned parent, called on the government to intervene quickly for WAEC to release the withheld subjects’ results in the supreme interest of the students who were left idling in the house.

‘I think WEAC has not been proactive for some time now and we can’t look on, unconcern for their negligence and incompetence to affect or ruin the future of some of these innocent children’, he stated.

Mrs. Agartha Santio, another concerned parent, told the GNA
she travelled from Nkrankwanta in the Dormaa West Municipality of the region and arrived at the WEAC premises around 0700 hours, ‘but where to sit is even a problem’.

‘Our girls are now roaming about in town because they don’t know their fate now and so we plead with the government to come to our aid before they become a burden on us’, she stated.

Some of the candidates whose results had been withheld and canceled expressed their readiness to re-write the papers and called on WAEC to take a decision on that as soon as possible. Others also said they did not engage in any form of malpractice in the examination and therefore, they did not understand why WEAC could take an action against an entire school to affect everybody.

Meanwhile, officials of the regional office of the Council declined to comment on the matter.

One of them told the GNA they were sent from WAEC Head Office in Accra to undertake the exercise, and added the Bono Region Controller of the Council was unavailable and no official could speak
about the matter.

Source: Ghana News Agency

A total of 729 individuals under the Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship Initiative of the European Union funded, Boosting Green Employment and Enterprise Opportunities in Ghana (GrEEn) Project have graduated.

The graduation formed part of the close-out of the project implemented by SNV Netherlands Development Organisation in Ghana in partnership with the Ghana TVET Service in the Western Region.

The GrEEn project, collaborated with Ghana TVET Service in May 2022 to roll out tailor-made TVET Certificate courses in six trade areas: Solar Panel Installation, Biodigester Construction, Cosmetology, Garment making, Beads and Soap making under its Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship programme.

The graduands acquired the National Proficiency Level I Certification.

The Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship programme implemented in the Ashanti and Western Regions over the past four years had supported more than 2,000 youth, women, and returning migrants through skills training to promote employment to contribu
te to Ghana’s local economy.

The certification and close-out ceremony gave official recognition to the recipients as having requisite skills, knowledge, values and meeting the required standards of a selected trade area based on National Proficiency Level.

Ms. Barbara White Nkoala, Country Director of SNV Ghana, in an address, explained that ‘SNV Netherlands Development Organisation is a development partner with one of the most adaptive and integrative approach to systems transformation, accelerating climate action, fostering gender equality and social inclusion, and transforming vita sectors-agri-food, energy and water- to build a sustainable and just future for all.’

She added that SNV placed youth employment and enterprise at the core of her work and had youth employment with such entrepreneurship programmes implemented in more than 10 countries in Africa.

The Project, she said, aimed to complement the efforts of the European Green Deal by unlocking Africa’s potential towards a green and circular econo
my.

She said the YEE initiative of the Project aimed at improving employability and entrepreneurship capabilities of youth, women, and returnees in sectors of economic opportunities, for the benefit of Ghana’s green and climate resilient local economy.

Ms. Nkoala mentioned that one of the key tools SNV had adopted in achieving this objective over the years was the market-led framework approach that enabled scaling and enhancing sustainability of programmes through partnerships.

SNV in Ghana worked with institutional and skills training partners to improve the employability and entrepreneurship capacities of youth, women, and returning migrants in the agri-food, energy, and water sectors in 10 Municipal District Assemblies in both the Ashanti and Western Regions of Ghana.

She noted that under YEE, youth service recipients received three months Basic and advanced skills training as well as two weeks to two months internship and on-the-job entrepreneurship training.

Through these trainings, over 3,500 youth
, women and returning migrants in the two Regions of implementation had developed self-employment opportunities.

The GrEEn Project, she said, also organised Business Plan Competitions and awarded GHS1,814,791 in grant to 72 business owners in 2021 and 2022 to contribute to their growth in their chosen fields.

The SNV rolled out 14 job fairs at the District and Regional levels, matching skills to opportunities in the green and circular economy by linking youth job seekers to employers.

She expressed appreciation to all the partners for their unwavering commitment to the Project and to the service recipients for an amazing partnership to promote employment for sustainable development for a bright and green future.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Professor Ben Honyenuga, Vice Chancellor of the Ho Technical University, has entreated all members of the University community to help maintain the tenets of moral behaviour.

He said the University considered a sound environment key to academic excellence and thus upheld a rigid policy against sexual harassment, therefore students and other members should endeavour to promote a quality outlook for the institution.

Addressing the 31st matriculation of the Technical University, the VC reassured of the commitment of the University management to safeguarding the sanity of all.

‘I wish to emphasise that as a University, we have zero tolerance for all forms of sexual harassment and intimidation. The University has a working Anti-Sexual Harassment Policy which is available on the University’s website. We have also issued an Anti-Sexual Harassment Policy Statement which has been signed by myself the Vice-Chancellor, and the Registrar,’ he said.

Prof Honyenuga asked students to familiarise themselves with the poli
cy and find the encouragement to report any sexual harassment and other forms of intimidation to the appropriate quarters for redress.

‘I can assure you that as the Chief Disciplinary Officer of the University, any person found guilty of sexual harassment or trading sexual favours shall face disciplinary action.

‘Further, note that the Laws of our dear country apply forcefully to all and we will not hesitate to hand you over to the law enforcement agencies when you commit any crime. Above all you must be personally responsible for all your actions. Do not provide the environment to trade sexual favours,’ he said.

The Anti-Sexual Harassment Policy was given prominence in the brochure handed out to all 3,701 admitted to the University for the 2023/2024 academic year.

The students took an oath at the matriculation to promote the vision and mission of the University along its core values.

The Vice Chancellor further reminded the new students that the University ruled against ‘all forms of indiscipline and ex
amination malpractices’, and that, ‘anyone found culpable in the violation of the rules and regulations of the University shall be sanctioned accordingly.’

Students were asked to always consider decent dressing and good grooming, and also advised to avoid illicit drugs and other substances of abuse.

Of the number admitted, 2,340 were males, and 1,361 females.

The Technical University has introduced some new programmes and courses, including MSC Hospitality and Tourism Management, BSC Economics and Innovation, MTECH Refrigeration Studies, BTECH Biomedical Engineering, and BSC Financial Services.

Source: Ghana News Agency

A total of 1,598 out of 3,020 applicants have not tuned up for admission to the Clement Kubindiwo Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences (CKT-UTAS) in Navrongo to pursue undergraduate and graduate programmes for the 2023/2024 academic year.

Out of the total number offered admission, undergraduate student applicants were 2,028, comprising 1,420 males and 608 females, while 992, comprising 905 males and 87 females were graduate student applicants.

Professor Samson Abah Abagale, the Acting Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the University, who disclosed this, said 710 males and 306 females totaling 1,016 undergraduate students accepted the offer and registered, while 345 males and 61 females registered for graduate programmes.

The VC was speaking at the fourth matriculation ceremony of the University.

The exact reasons for the failure of the applicants to turn up for admission are not known and could be varied.

Professor Abagale said the University had structured and realigned its academic programmes unde
r ten schools, namely; the School of Computing and Information Sciences (SCIS), School of Mathematical Sciences (SMS), School of Physical Sciences (SoPS) and the School of Sciences, Mathematics and Technology Education (SoSMTE).

The rest are the School of Medical Sciences (SoMS), School of Environment and Life Sciences (SoELS), School of Chemical and Biochemical Sciences (SoCBS), School of Nursing and Midwifery, School of Agriculture and the School of Public Health.

‘The University, through the School of Medical Sciences for this academic year has introduced and admitted students to read programmes in PhD, Infectious Diseases and Immunology as well as M. Phil Infectious Diseases and Immunology,’ he said.

He said the School also advertised for suitable applicants to be admitted into the University to read M. Phil in Anaesthesia and Critical Care, while accreditation was sought from the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) and the Allied Health Professions Council for the SoMS to mount and run a BSc. M
edical Laboratory Technology programme.

The VC further mentioned that the Allied Health Professions Council recently granted professional approval for a BSc Health Information Management programme which was

currently being prepared by the School of Mathematical Sciences for submission to the GTEC for academic accreditation.

‘Also noteworthy are accreditation processes for two Nursing programmes which are far advanced and would be advertised hopefully this academic year if the accreditation process gets completed.

‘The School of Computing and Information Sciences has also submitted three new programmes; M. Phil in Information and Communication Technology. MSc. in Information and Communication Technology and BSc. in Information Systems to the Office of the VC for onward submission to GTEC for accreditation process to begin,’ he said.

Professor Abagale told the fresh students that even though the University had infrastructural deficit, it had one of the best Faculty and support staff to make them competitiv
e in the job market after their studies.

He urged them to avail themselves to be remodeled to the ‘competitive lion spirit’ to become the graduate the University envisaged for its students in the job market, ‘I advise you to take your academic work seriously. It is the main reason you are in this University and in Navrongo.

‘Remember there would be challenges and the only way you can succeed is to stay resilient and not to give up, but persevere till you meet your target, that is a successful graduation,’ the VC told the students.

Some students who interacted with the Ghana News Agency, expressed gratitude to God for the admission and the grace to successfully undergo the matriculation process, and pledged to abide by the rules and regulations of the University to a successful end.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, the Minister of Education, Tuesday said he was grateful to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for highlighting education in the State of Nation Address (SONA) to Parliament.

He said: ‘There has been a great accomplishment in the education sector…I understand why he (President) spent so much time on it.’

‘So I am grateful to the president for highlighting education,’ the Education Minister said.

Dr Adutwum, also the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Bosomtwe, said when he reacted to the SONA address by the President during an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Parliament House, Accra.

He said, currently, the government was looking at Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education not only at the Senior High Schools (SHS) but also at the Junior High Schools (JHS) with the belief that stakeholders were raising a pipeline that would train and re-train STEM professionals the country needed to succeed on the 21st century.

He told the G
NA that the Free Senior High School Free (SHS) Policy was also a laudable initiative of the government that gave equal educational opportunities to the unreached.

‘Over 500,000 students enrolled in Form One, a record that has never happened before.

‘Currently we have over 1.4 million students in SHS,’ Dr Adutwum said.

President Akufo-Addo in his address on the Floor of Parliament touted the relevance of the Free SHS Policy.

He said despite the demonisation of the Policy by his government’s detractors, the initiative had been transformative, broken myths and liberated minds.

‘Mr Speaker, I believe the success of the Free SHS has answered its critics and the arguments about it should cease, and we should simply concentrate on finding ways to improve it. I am particularly glad that the fears about lowering standards have been allayed. Refreshingly, we witnessed, through the 2023 batch of Free SHS students, the best WASSCE results in a decade,’ he said. According to President Akufo-Addo, ‘It is humbling on t
he one hand and frightening on the other, to think of the sheer number of talents that Free SHS has unearthed that would otherwise have ended their formal education at BECE.

I know we will get more engineers, doctors, architects, scientists, writers and poets out of the increased numbers of those attending Senior High School, who will go on to further education.’

He told Parliament that even if the Free SHS beneficiaries were unable to further their education, Ghana would benefit from the skills they acquired.

‘…Mr Speaker, imagine what a million more Secondary School educated young people will do to our self-confidence and the value of our workforce. That, alone, makes Free SHS worthwhile. I am proud that the NPP government, under my leadership, has been able to bring this transformative policy into our education system,’ the President said.

Article 67 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, states that the President shall deliver a message on the SONA to Parliament at the start of each session and before the
dissolution of Parliament.

It also imposes an obligation on Members of Parliament (MPs), the Speaker of Parliament and the Judiciary to receive the President’s SONA.

SONA is a constitutional obligation and yearly tradition, wherein the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces reports on the status of the country, unveils the government’s agenda for the coming year, and proposes to Parliament certain legislative measures.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) has launched the Accreditation Management Information System (AMIS), which is a platform, to enable universities to apply for accreditation of programmes without the need to physically visit the Commission’s offices.

AMIS platform is an online solution that will fast-track the accreditation process, provide timely feedback to applicants with real-time updates on the processes and the status of their applications and enhance transparency, accountability, and convenience for all stakeholders.

Eleven tertiary institutions located in the northern part of the country including University for Development Studies (UDS), Tamale Technical University, Tamale Community Nursing Training College, Tamale Nurses and Midwives’ Training College, C. K. Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences, Bolgatanga Technical University, Simon Diedong Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies, Dr Hilla Limann Technical University, Wa Nursing Training College
would be the initial institutions to start accessing the platform.

Professor Ahmed Jinapor Abdulai, Director-General, GTEC, speaking during the launch in Tamale, said the AMIS platform would revolutionise the tertiary education space in the country.

He said, ‘With this, we hope to streamline the application process making it more efficient and accessible.’

He added that ‘It will help sanitise the tertiary education space, improve efficiency and address the issue of inconsistencies as well as eliminate the manual system, which is not only drudgery but fraught with human inadequacies thus causing discomfort to the universities and the public in general.’

Professor Jinapor said GTEC had plans to decentralise its operations by opening two new offices in Kumasi and Tamale to further enhance the accreditation process for tertiary institutions across the country.

He said this would bring accreditation services closer to institutions and applicants fostering a more responsive and accessible system.

He touched o
n the recent Auditor-General’s report on accreditation of programmes at universities in the country saying, ‘It will interest you to know that in 2022, the Public Accounts Committee report from almost all the public universities was a sad story where most of their programmes were either not accredited or had expired.’

He said, ‘This compelled the GTEC to take tough measures to right all those wrongs and among those tough decisions was the ban on the introduction of new programmes in all public universities from October, 2023 to January, 2024 so that all those public universities could take steps to rectify all such abnormalities within that period to enable them submit new programmes.’

Professor Jinapor said GTEC had established an Accelerated Accreditation Committee to address the delay in accrediting new programmes and expedite the verification and processing of documents.

He said the Commission accredited an average of 400 to 600 programmes every quarter, but the new Committee had successfully accredite
d 1,024 programmes in the last quarter of the year 2023.

He assured of the Commission’s determination to rid the tertiary education space of unregistered programmes and institutions.

Professor Seidu Al-hassan, Vice-Chancellor, UDS, who chaired the launch, said the initiative was long overdue and would make an impact in the educational sector.

He appealed to the Management of GTEC to monitor and ensure that the platform served its purpose.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Basic and Junior High Schools (JHS) in the Gushegu Municipality of the Northern Region are faced with extreme furniture deficit, which is significantly affecting teaching and learning.

This was observed during a visit by a media team, led by the Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch) in collaboration with the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), to monitor the availability of desks in schools.

The team’s visit to schools including the Gushegu M/A Primary, Gushegu Demonstration, Maazijung Primary and JHS among others, saw pupils sitting on the floor during lessons while some stood.

In some schools, three or more pupils shared a desk meant for two while others laid on their bellies to write.

Meanwhile, GETFund, by 2023 distributed over 13,000 desks to basic schools across the country.

Out of these numbers, the Gushegu Municipality received 180 desks, which were distributed among 54 schools.

The furniture supply fell short of the demand of the schools as some schools with over 300 student-population, received
four desks or less.

Mr Ahmed Tijani, Gushegu Municipal Director of Education, speaking to the media during the visit on Monday, said the furniture situation in the area was dire adding interventions to solve the problem were not sufficient.

He noted that the Municipality received 180 desks from GETFund, which were shared among all schools with some receiving only two pieces.

He said ‘In some schools, five students share a desk, and this is affecting their performance. It is badly affecting teaching and learning.’

He appealed to government, the Municipal Assembly and NGOs to supply the schools with furniture to provide an enabling learning condition for students.

Some headmasters and students shared frustrations over the furniture deficit situation in their schools.

Mr Amadu Abdul Rashid, Headmaster, Gushegu M/A Block A, described the furniture deficit situation in the school as awful saying pupils’ demeanor in class indicated the level of uneasiness.

He said the school received 10 pieces of the GETFund
furniture for a population of 453 pupils adding over 150 pupils were without seats.

Victoria Tottimeh, a form three student of the Maazijung JHS, said three of them were sharing a desk in class, which made writing difficult and created so much discomfort.

She mentioned that there were instances where some students stood during lessons due to inadequate furniture adding the situation deterred learning.

The monitoring followed a study conducted by Eduwatch last year on the impact of desk deficit in public basic schools.

Source: Ghana News Agency

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says 17,340 out-of-school children have been reintegrated into mainstream formal schools through the Ghana Education Outcomes Project (GEOP).

‘The goal of GEOP is to provide educational support to seventy-two thousand (72,000) out-of-school children, helping them access complementary education and transition into formal schools,’ he explained.

The President said this during his presentation of the 2024 State of the Nation Address in Parliament.

President Akufo-Addo said the project formed part of the Government’s comprehensive reforms within the education sector to improve learning outcomes and ensure every child was equipped with literacy and numeracy skills.

‘This programme has worked so well and won the GOVTECH PRIZE award in February 2024, at the World Government Summit held in Dubai,’ he added.

The President said the Government had also increased investment in infrastructure for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education at the pre-tertiar
y level.

He said the construction of 10 STEM Schools and 10 STEM Centres had commenced across the country, with seven STEM Model Schools operationalised.

The schools, he noted, had been equipped with state-of-the-art laboratories and classrooms, dormitories, assembly halls, dining halls and conducive environments to enhance teaching and learning.

The Ministry of Education is set to reintegrate 70,000 out-of-school children in schools through the Ghana Education Outcomes Project together with development partners and service providers.

The GEOP is an additional funding project under the Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcomes Project designed to train, reintegrate and retain out-of-school children in schools.

Source: Ghana News Agency