March 18, 2008
Page 48
THE Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr Samuel Bannerman-Mensah, has stated that no religion is forced on any student in educational institutions in the country.
According to him, faith-based schools were not allowed to impose their religion on students who did not believe in such religion.
He told the Daily Graphic that schools were governed by rules and regulations which were expected to be complied with by every student, adding that there were also “school gatherings which are compulsory for all students”.
Reacting to the incident in which a final-year student of the Adisadel College in Cape Coast jumped to death, Mr Bannerman-Mensah said schools had their gatherings in all the faith-based schools.
He said some of those gatherings were not for religious purposes, but used to talk about morals which permeated all religions and noted that “many of the schools have such gatherings”.
Mr Bannerman-Mensah indicated that the situation where there was a worship in a particular religion, those who did not believe in that religion were not forced to be part of the worship, and that all such students were supposed to be in one room to ensure that nobody roamed about.
He described the incident at Adisadel College as unfortunate, and said the housemaster was only trying to enforce school regulations which were supposed to be followed by all.
He said the headmaster told him that there was an evening worship on Sunday and had information that some of the students were hiding in the new building from which the student jumped.
The headmaster said the housemaster had gone there to ensure that the right thing was done.
“I’m sorry that this has happened,” he said, and expressed condolences to the bereaved family.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
WAEC introduces new rules
March 19, 2008
Page 31
THE West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has introduced two new rules to guide the conduct of examinations.
The rules, which would take effect from next year, would be applied to both Basic Education Certificate Examination, May/June West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and the November/December WASSCE.
The Deputy Registrar and Head of the International Examination Department of WAEC, Mr Charles Eguridu, announced this at the 2008 WAEC Day Students Symposium in Accra on Monday.
It was on the theme: “Improving Educational Assessment Processes Through Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Current Trends in Examination Malpractices”.
Mr Eguridu said where a candidate, contrary to guidelines, failed to write his or her name on an answer booklet before the commencement of an examination, the candidate’s subject result shall be withheld pending cancellation by the appointment committee to the council.
Secondly, he said, where the candidate shaded with ink instead of pencil, the candidate’s subject result shall be withheld pending cancellation by the appointment committee to the council.
The Head of the Security Printing Department of WAEC, Rev Nii Nnai Ollenu, reminded students to abide by examination rules to avoid being sanctioned.
He mentioned some cases of malpractices as taking foreign materials to examination hall, collusion and insulting invigilators, and attributed the problem to inadequate preparation, negative peer influence, and the quest to uphold the status of schools.
He said once a student was caught, the implications included the cancellation of results, inconvenience of rewriting the examination, as well as the financial implication of re-registering for the examination.
An Assistant Registrar, Mr Ben Owusu Ofori, said the world had been taken over by ICT, which the council had adopted for test administration.
According to him, the manual processing of registration, which took a lot of man hours, had given way to on-line registration, saying that “today, registration has come to the doorsteps of candidates”.
He also mentioned the checking of results on the Internet, among other things, and urged students to make maximum use of ICT facilities, and not abuse them or use them for fraudulent activities.
In a presentation, Mr John Avande of the Computer Services Division, said for instance, the use of ICT had contributed greatly to the selection of quality objective questions which was done through the use of item analysis report to select questions.
“With the growing numbers of candidates, the use of Information Technology helps to process the large volumes of data faster. The latest method of educational assessment is being used by TOEFL. This method has gone a very long way to eliminate the canker of leakages and malpractices in examinations,” he said.
Page 31
THE West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has introduced two new rules to guide the conduct of examinations.
The rules, which would take effect from next year, would be applied to both Basic Education Certificate Examination, May/June West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and the November/December WASSCE.
The Deputy Registrar and Head of the International Examination Department of WAEC, Mr Charles Eguridu, announced this at the 2008 WAEC Day Students Symposium in Accra on Monday.
It was on the theme: “Improving Educational Assessment Processes Through Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Current Trends in Examination Malpractices”.
Mr Eguridu said where a candidate, contrary to guidelines, failed to write his or her name on an answer booklet before the commencement of an examination, the candidate’s subject result shall be withheld pending cancellation by the appointment committee to the council.
Secondly, he said, where the candidate shaded with ink instead of pencil, the candidate’s subject result shall be withheld pending cancellation by the appointment committee to the council.
The Head of the Security Printing Department of WAEC, Rev Nii Nnai Ollenu, reminded students to abide by examination rules to avoid being sanctioned.
He mentioned some cases of malpractices as taking foreign materials to examination hall, collusion and insulting invigilators, and attributed the problem to inadequate preparation, negative peer influence, and the quest to uphold the status of schools.
He said once a student was caught, the implications included the cancellation of results, inconvenience of rewriting the examination, as well as the financial implication of re-registering for the examination.
An Assistant Registrar, Mr Ben Owusu Ofori, said the world had been taken over by ICT, which the council had adopted for test administration.
According to him, the manual processing of registration, which took a lot of man hours, had given way to on-line registration, saying that “today, registration has come to the doorsteps of candidates”.
He also mentioned the checking of results on the Internet, among other things, and urged students to make maximum use of ICT facilities, and not abuse them or use them for fraudulent activities.
In a presentation, Mr John Avande of the Computer Services Division, said for instance, the use of ICT had contributed greatly to the selection of quality objective questions which was done through the use of item analysis report to select questions.
“With the growing numbers of candidates, the use of Information Technology helps to process the large volumes of data faster. The latest method of educational assessment is being used by TOEFL. This method has gone a very long way to eliminate the canker of leakages and malpractices in examinations,” he said.
Disbursement under LEAP starts today
March 19, 2008
Page 48
ABOUT 8,350 individuals from 1,654 households will between today and tomorrow receive their grants under the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme.
Each beneficiary would be given GH¢16 for a two-month period while the next payment will be made in May.
The National Co-ordinator of LEAP, Mr Lawrence Ofori-Addo, made this known to the Daily Graphic yesterday.
Beneficiaries in Bawku will, however, not receive the grants as a result of the conflict in the area.
Mr Ofori-Addo said the grants would be disbursed to beneficiaries in Bawku once there was normalcy.
He said the LEAP Secretariat had completed the data verification of the beneficiaries and that the beneficiaries had also been issued with identification cards, adding that the payment would be done through Ghana Post and the district offices of the Department of Social Welfare.
LEAP is part of the National Social Protection Strategy (NSPS), a social grant which seeks to provide funds on conditional basis to extremely poor households with vulnerable orphans. The core feature of the programme is direct cash transfer to categories of poor people.
Mr Ofori-Addo said three other areas — Lawra, Ga West and the Tema Municipality, where errors were identified on the data of some beneficiaries — will have to wait until they were corrected, stating that “as soon as they are corrected they will be added to the list”.
“Our officials are currently contacting the beneficiaries and arranging the payment points. We don’t expect long queues, since everything would be smooth,” he said
Mr Ofori-Addo indicated that the five-year programme, which was at the pre-pilot stage, was expected to cover 164,370 households under the period.
Ninety-two households will benefit in Dangbe West, 43 in the Tema Municipal area, 45 in Ga West, 73 in the Cape Coast Municipal area, 74 in the Agona District, 84 in the Assin North District, 99 in Nzema East, 94 in Asuogyaman District and 86 in the Manya Krobo District.
The rest are 93 households in Yilo Krobo District, 115 in New Juabeng, 74 in Fanteakwa, 98 in Kwahu West, 97 in Akuapem South, 89 in Ketu South, 70 in Kumasi Metro, 98 in Obuasi, 104 in the Techiman Municipality, 93 in the Bole District and 31 in the Lawra District.
The Ghana Living Standard Survey (GLSS 5) which was conducted in 2005 and 2006 indicated that 41 per cent of Ghanaians were poor and out of that figure, 18.2 per cent were considered extremely poor.
Page 48
ABOUT 8,350 individuals from 1,654 households will between today and tomorrow receive their grants under the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme.
Each beneficiary would be given GH¢16 for a two-month period while the next payment will be made in May.
The National Co-ordinator of LEAP, Mr Lawrence Ofori-Addo, made this known to the Daily Graphic yesterday.
Beneficiaries in Bawku will, however, not receive the grants as a result of the conflict in the area.
Mr Ofori-Addo said the grants would be disbursed to beneficiaries in Bawku once there was normalcy.
He said the LEAP Secretariat had completed the data verification of the beneficiaries and that the beneficiaries had also been issued with identification cards, adding that the payment would be done through Ghana Post and the district offices of the Department of Social Welfare.
LEAP is part of the National Social Protection Strategy (NSPS), a social grant which seeks to provide funds on conditional basis to extremely poor households with vulnerable orphans. The core feature of the programme is direct cash transfer to categories of poor people.
Mr Ofori-Addo said three other areas — Lawra, Ga West and the Tema Municipality, where errors were identified on the data of some beneficiaries — will have to wait until they were corrected, stating that “as soon as they are corrected they will be added to the list”.
“Our officials are currently contacting the beneficiaries and arranging the payment points. We don’t expect long queues, since everything would be smooth,” he said
Mr Ofori-Addo indicated that the five-year programme, which was at the pre-pilot stage, was expected to cover 164,370 households under the period.
Ninety-two households will benefit in Dangbe West, 43 in the Tema Municipal area, 45 in Ga West, 73 in the Cape Coast Municipal area, 74 in the Agona District, 84 in the Assin North District, 99 in Nzema East, 94 in Asuogyaman District and 86 in the Manya Krobo District.
The rest are 93 households in Yilo Krobo District, 115 in New Juabeng, 74 in Fanteakwa, 98 in Kwahu West, 97 in Akuapem South, 89 in Ketu South, 70 in Kumasi Metro, 98 in Obuasi, 104 in the Techiman Municipality, 93 in the Bole District and 31 in the Lawra District.
The Ghana Living Standard Survey (GLSS 5) which was conducted in 2005 and 2006 indicated that 41 per cent of Ghanaians were poor and out of that figure, 18.2 per cent were considered extremely poor.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
GES pleads with Northern CHASS
Page 3
March 8, 2008
THE Ghana Education Service (GES) has appealed to heads of second-cycle schools in the three northern regions to exercise restraint as the service takes steps to get the Scholarship Secretariat to release the feeding grant for second-cycle schools as early as possible.
According to the acting Head of the Public Relations Unit of the GES, Mr Paul Kofi Krampa, “It is the Scholarship Secretariat that is in charge, not the GES.”
“The feeding grants come from the Scholarship Secretariat. The secretariat also receives the money from the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund),” he said, adding that the service could only appeal for the release of the money to ensure smooth academic activities in the schools.
He also appealed to food suppliers to the schools to exercise restraint and co-operate with the heads as they tried to secure funds to settle their outstanding debts.
Mr Krampa said the suppliers should continue to assist the schools, since they had worked together over the years, saying that that was the time to be close to the heads.
The heads of second-cycle schools in the three northern regions had said in a statement that they would be compelled to send home first and second-year students by Thursday, March 13, 2008 if full grants of the first and second terms were not released.
They explained that since the beginning of the academic year in September last year, only 40 per cent of the feeding grant for second and final-year students had been released, while nothing had been received for first-year students for the same term.
“The second term started in January 2008 and as of now we are in the eighth week, yet no funds have been released for the feeding of students in all forms,” they further stated.
The heads alleged that even though they had written letters to the sector ministry, the Ghana Education Service and the three regional ministers in the north on their plight, they were yet to receive the needed responses on the release of the grants.
March 8, 2008
THE Ghana Education Service (GES) has appealed to heads of second-cycle schools in the three northern regions to exercise restraint as the service takes steps to get the Scholarship Secretariat to release the feeding grant for second-cycle schools as early as possible.
According to the acting Head of the Public Relations Unit of the GES, Mr Paul Kofi Krampa, “It is the Scholarship Secretariat that is in charge, not the GES.”
“The feeding grants come from the Scholarship Secretariat. The secretariat also receives the money from the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund),” he said, adding that the service could only appeal for the release of the money to ensure smooth academic activities in the schools.
He also appealed to food suppliers to the schools to exercise restraint and co-operate with the heads as they tried to secure funds to settle their outstanding debts.
Mr Krampa said the suppliers should continue to assist the schools, since they had worked together over the years, saying that that was the time to be close to the heads.
The heads of second-cycle schools in the three northern regions had said in a statement that they would be compelled to send home first and second-year students by Thursday, March 13, 2008 if full grants of the first and second terms were not released.
They explained that since the beginning of the academic year in September last year, only 40 per cent of the feeding grant for second and final-year students had been released, while nothing had been received for first-year students for the same term.
“The second term started in January 2008 and as of now we are in the eighth week, yet no funds have been released for the feeding of students in all forms,” they further stated.
The heads alleged that even though they had written letters to the sector ministry, the Ghana Education Service and the three regional ministers in the north on their plight, they were yet to receive the needed responses on the release of the grants.
WASSCE Nov/Dec candidates doubt grades
Page 11
March 7, 2008
SOME candidates who wrote the November/December West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) last year were given grades in subjects they did not register for. Consequently, they have expressed doubts in the entire grades given to them.
The results slips of the candidates made available to the Daily Graphic had grades of subjects they did not register for.
For instance, one of them who wrote the examination in Accra had his examination centre as Wa. Aside that, he was given grades in Typewriting, Fante and French but he did not register for those subjects.
He said when he took the matter to the West African Examinations Council WAEC), one of the officers cancelled the Typewriting, Fante and French subjects and substituted them with Social Studies, Integrated Science and Physics which were the subjects he registered for.
According to him, he was asked to re-check the Internet for the corrected results. “I went back to check if what was written by the official (Social Studies, Integrated Science and Physics) were effected on the internet, a situation which raised doubts over the results.?????
A parent, whose daughter was affected, said from the mistakes made by WAEC, she did not believe that the grades given to her child were the true reflection of her performance.
She, therefore, called for a re-marking of the papers of those who were affected, adding that WAEC should also apologise for the embarrassment it had caused.
When contacted, the acting Public Relations Officer of WAEC, Mr Frederick Selby, said wrong codes were inadvertently used for the placing of the results on the Internet on Sunday, the day the results were released.
“Immediately our attention was drawn to it, early Monday morning we blocked the net and the corrections were made,” he explained, adding that those who went to the net before “our attention was drawn to the problem had the wrong subjects”.
He noted that after the corrections were made, the net was opened for candidates to access their results.
Mr Selby said the results were credible and nobody had any cause to doubt them, saying that they were the true reflection of the performance of candidates.
“The results are very credible,” he assured candidates.
March 7, 2008
SOME candidates who wrote the November/December West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) last year were given grades in subjects they did not register for. Consequently, they have expressed doubts in the entire grades given to them.
The results slips of the candidates made available to the Daily Graphic had grades of subjects they did not register for.
For instance, one of them who wrote the examination in Accra had his examination centre as Wa. Aside that, he was given grades in Typewriting, Fante and French but he did not register for those subjects.
He said when he took the matter to the West African Examinations Council WAEC), one of the officers cancelled the Typewriting, Fante and French subjects and substituted them with Social Studies, Integrated Science and Physics which were the subjects he registered for.
According to him, he was asked to re-check the Internet for the corrected results. “I went back to check if what was written by the official (Social Studies, Integrated Science and Physics) were effected on the internet, a situation which raised doubts over the results.?????
A parent, whose daughter was affected, said from the mistakes made by WAEC, she did not believe that the grades given to her child were the true reflection of her performance.
She, therefore, called for a re-marking of the papers of those who were affected, adding that WAEC should also apologise for the embarrassment it had caused.
When contacted, the acting Public Relations Officer of WAEC, Mr Frederick Selby, said wrong codes were inadvertently used for the placing of the results on the Internet on Sunday, the day the results were released.
“Immediately our attention was drawn to it, early Monday morning we blocked the net and the corrections were made,” he explained, adding that those who went to the net before “our attention was drawn to the problem had the wrong subjects”.
He noted that after the corrections were made, the net was opened for candidates to access their results.
Mr Selby said the results were credible and nobody had any cause to doubt them, saying that they were the true reflection of the performance of candidates.
“The results are very credible,” he assured candidates.
Minister orders release of funds for northern schools
Page 48
March 11, 2008
THE Minister of Education, Science and Sports, Prof. Dominic Fobih, has directed the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to immediately secure funds from other sources for release to the Scholarship Secretariat for schools in the three northern regions.
That, he said, was to ensure smooth academic activities on the various campuses until Parliament gave approval to the GETFund budget for the year after which the funds secured would be refunded.
Prof. Fobih, who made this known in an interview, said Parliament was expected to discuss the matter either today or tomorrow, after which approval would be given.
Heads of second-cycle schools in the three northern regions have said they would be compelled to send home first and second-year students by Thursday, March 13, 2008 if full grants of the first and second terms were not released.
They explained that since the beginning of the academic year in September, last year, only 40 per cent of the feeding grant for second and final-year students had been released, while nothing had been received for first-year students for the same term.
However, Prof. Fobih was quick to add that the moneys were not feeding grants, since it would have affected other senior high schools in the country, adding that “this is a special scholarship to students of northern extraction”.
He explained that the money was part of the GETFund’s allocation to the Scholarship Secretariat, which disbursed it to schools of the beneficiaries.
Following the threat of sending students home until the funds were released, the Ghana Education Service (GES) has appealed to the heads to exercise restraint as steps were being taken to get the grants released.
The heads of schools in the northern regions had alleged that even though they had written letters to the sector ministry, the GES and the three regional ministers in northern Ghana on their plight, they were yet to receive the needed responses on the release of the grants.
The GES, however, said the release of the grants should be done by the Scholarship Secretariat and not by the service.
March 11, 2008
THE Minister of Education, Science and Sports, Prof. Dominic Fobih, has directed the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to immediately secure funds from other sources for release to the Scholarship Secretariat for schools in the three northern regions.
That, he said, was to ensure smooth academic activities on the various campuses until Parliament gave approval to the GETFund budget for the year after which the funds secured would be refunded.
Prof. Fobih, who made this known in an interview, said Parliament was expected to discuss the matter either today or tomorrow, after which approval would be given.
Heads of second-cycle schools in the three northern regions have said they would be compelled to send home first and second-year students by Thursday, March 13, 2008 if full grants of the first and second terms were not released.
They explained that since the beginning of the academic year in September, last year, only 40 per cent of the feeding grant for second and final-year students had been released, while nothing had been received for first-year students for the same term.
However, Prof. Fobih was quick to add that the moneys were not feeding grants, since it would have affected other senior high schools in the country, adding that “this is a special scholarship to students of northern extraction”.
He explained that the money was part of the GETFund’s allocation to the Scholarship Secretariat, which disbursed it to schools of the beneficiaries.
Following the threat of sending students home until the funds were released, the Ghana Education Service (GES) has appealed to the heads to exercise restraint as steps were being taken to get the grants released.
The heads of schools in the northern regions had alleged that even though they had written letters to the sector ministry, the GES and the three regional ministers in northern Ghana on their plight, they were yet to receive the needed responses on the release of the grants.
The GES, however, said the release of the grants should be done by the Scholarship Secretariat and not by the service.
RME to be re-introduced
Page 3
March 11, 2008
Religious and Moral Education (RME) is to be re-introduced as a separate subject at the basic education level with effect from the next academic year, the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports has announced.
The sector Minister, Prof Dominic Fobih, who made this known in an interview with the Daily Graphic, said the Curriculum Research and Development Division (CRDD) of the ministry was working with the religious bodies to develop the syllabus for the subject.
He said RME was not abolished under the educational reform but integrated into other subjects, adding, “It will now be made to stand on its own.”
According to him, the ministry was open to suggestions from the public on issues about education, saying, “We are a listening ministry.”
The Catholic Bishops Conference, in a communiqué issued in Kumasi in November last year after its meeting, called on the government to re-introduce RME as a subject, instead of a concept, in the school curriculum.
According to the Bishops, “sidelining religion and morality from education is tantamount to condemning the human person to a lack of means to develop himself or herself fully to be a human being in the society”.
The position of the Bishops attracted other voices concerning the non-inclusion of RME in the school curriculum, particularly from the Christian and Muslim communities.
Following the outcry over the matter, President Kufuor directed the ministry to facilitate a dialogue among the stakeholders of the educational sector to resolve the controversy over the teaching of the subject.
As a result, a 29-member committee, under the chairmanship of Prof Anamuah-Mensah, a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba, was convened at the instance of the sector minister to take a second look at the teaching of RME as a subject at the basic level.
President Kufuor, in his Independence Day address, said the government had decided to revisit the reinstatement of RME on the school curriculum.
Prof Fobih said the ministry was going to carry out what the President had requested.
March 11, 2008
Religious and Moral Education (RME) is to be re-introduced as a separate subject at the basic education level with effect from the next academic year, the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports has announced.
The sector Minister, Prof Dominic Fobih, who made this known in an interview with the Daily Graphic, said the Curriculum Research and Development Division (CRDD) of the ministry was working with the religious bodies to develop the syllabus for the subject.
He said RME was not abolished under the educational reform but integrated into other subjects, adding, “It will now be made to stand on its own.”
According to him, the ministry was open to suggestions from the public on issues about education, saying, “We are a listening ministry.”
The Catholic Bishops Conference, in a communiqué issued in Kumasi in November last year after its meeting, called on the government to re-introduce RME as a subject, instead of a concept, in the school curriculum.
According to the Bishops, “sidelining religion and morality from education is tantamount to condemning the human person to a lack of means to develop himself or herself fully to be a human being in the society”.
The position of the Bishops attracted other voices concerning the non-inclusion of RME in the school curriculum, particularly from the Christian and Muslim communities.
Following the outcry over the matter, President Kufuor directed the ministry to facilitate a dialogue among the stakeholders of the educational sector to resolve the controversy over the teaching of the subject.
As a result, a 29-member committee, under the chairmanship of Prof Anamuah-Mensah, a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba, was convened at the instance of the sector minister to take a second look at the teaching of RME as a subject at the basic level.
President Kufuor, in his Independence Day address, said the government had decided to revisit the reinstatement of RME on the school curriculum.
Prof Fobih said the ministry was going to carry out what the President had requested.
State funding of political parties-It's Not The Answer
Front page
March 11, 2008
A Ghanaian political scientist, Prof Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, has stated that the suggestion to dedicate a certain percentage of taxes to fund political parties should be carefully thought through because other constitutional bodies equally need funding.
“Will this mean that we raise additional taxes or we annex a percentage of the existing tax revenue? Will that come at the expense of other public goods that are funded from tax revenue, such as the school feeding programme, the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme or the Northern Development Fund?” he asked in an interview with the Daily Graphic yesterday.
According to him, Ghanaians must be careful not to set up a chain reaction in which a percentage of tax revenue would be specifically attached to a long list of equally important public goods.
Prof Gyimah-Boadi, a Political Science Professor at the University of Ghana, Legon, and Executive Director of the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD - Ghana), was reacting to proposals made by four political parties and the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) that the state should fund political parties.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP), the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and the People’s National Convention (PNC), under the umbrella of the Ghana Political Parties Programme (GPPP) and the IEA, are expected to launch the proposal for state funding of political parties tomorrow.
Prof Gyimah-Boadi noted that there were fundamental issues to consider in order to place the idea of state funding of political parties in a proper perspective, adding that there was a general problem of unfunded mandates “in our current democratic governance arrangements”.
He said the 1992 Constitution imposed significant obligations on political parties to undertake key democratic governance functions but made no clear provisions for their financing.
Prof Gyimah-Boadi noted that political parties shared that predicament with other public and quasi-public agencies such as the media, adding that the media were also assigned a crucial role in democratic governance in the Fourth Republic “but without a clear idea of its funding”.
“We must take together the challenge of how to fund Ghanaian political parties, the media, civil society and all other key agencies that are crucial to the effective functioning of our system of democratic governance,” he emphasised.
Another difficult challenge, he said, was the chronic weakness experienced by key constitutional bodies such as the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Parliament, the Judiciary, among other bodies.
Prof Gyimah-Boadi indicated that those bodies were explicitly mandated to charge their expenditure to the Consolidated Fund but suffered “chronic lack of funding”.
He said the Electoral Commission had suffered the same fate and, “like the others, it has typically depended substantially on foreign donors”.
“At the very least, we must come up with a credible formula for funding these constitutional bodies,” he suggested, and said there was the need to find creative ways of addressing the challenge of funding political parties and in a manner that was also sustainable.
He described the issue of state funding of political parties as a great idea because it was essential for sustained multi-party democracy.
“As an ardent advocate of democracy and democratic governance, I fully support it in principle and would want to see it in practice,” he stated.
He welcomed the draft legislation which was seeking to provide a legal basis and framework for the funding of political parties, adding, “We welcome and await the tabling of this draft legislation in Parliament so that we and the members of the public can have the opportunity to review it, make inputs into it and hopefully help to render the legislation fully credible and implementable.”
March 11, 2008
A Ghanaian political scientist, Prof Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, has stated that the suggestion to dedicate a certain percentage of taxes to fund political parties should be carefully thought through because other constitutional bodies equally need funding.
“Will this mean that we raise additional taxes or we annex a percentage of the existing tax revenue? Will that come at the expense of other public goods that are funded from tax revenue, such as the school feeding programme, the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme or the Northern Development Fund?” he asked in an interview with the Daily Graphic yesterday.
According to him, Ghanaians must be careful not to set up a chain reaction in which a percentage of tax revenue would be specifically attached to a long list of equally important public goods.
Prof Gyimah-Boadi, a Political Science Professor at the University of Ghana, Legon, and Executive Director of the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD - Ghana), was reacting to proposals made by four political parties and the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) that the state should fund political parties.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP), the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and the People’s National Convention (PNC), under the umbrella of the Ghana Political Parties Programme (GPPP) and the IEA, are expected to launch the proposal for state funding of political parties tomorrow.
Prof Gyimah-Boadi noted that there were fundamental issues to consider in order to place the idea of state funding of political parties in a proper perspective, adding that there was a general problem of unfunded mandates “in our current democratic governance arrangements”.
He said the 1992 Constitution imposed significant obligations on political parties to undertake key democratic governance functions but made no clear provisions for their financing.
Prof Gyimah-Boadi noted that political parties shared that predicament with other public and quasi-public agencies such as the media, adding that the media were also assigned a crucial role in democratic governance in the Fourth Republic “but without a clear idea of its funding”.
“We must take together the challenge of how to fund Ghanaian political parties, the media, civil society and all other key agencies that are crucial to the effective functioning of our system of democratic governance,” he emphasised.
Another difficult challenge, he said, was the chronic weakness experienced by key constitutional bodies such as the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Parliament, the Judiciary, among other bodies.
Prof Gyimah-Boadi indicated that those bodies were explicitly mandated to charge their expenditure to the Consolidated Fund but suffered “chronic lack of funding”.
He said the Electoral Commission had suffered the same fate and, “like the others, it has typically depended substantially on foreign donors”.
“At the very least, we must come up with a credible formula for funding these constitutional bodies,” he suggested, and said there was the need to find creative ways of addressing the challenge of funding political parties and in a manner that was also sustainable.
He described the issue of state funding of political parties as a great idea because it was essential for sustained multi-party democracy.
“As an ardent advocate of democracy and democratic governance, I fully support it in principle and would want to see it in practice,” he stated.
He welcomed the draft legislation which was seeking to provide a legal basis and framework for the funding of political parties, adding, “We welcome and await the tabling of this draft legislation in Parliament so that we and the members of the public can have the opportunity to review it, make inputs into it and hopefully help to render the legislation fully credible and implementable.”
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Education has undergone changes over the years
Page 35
March 5, 2008
Formal education has undergone several changes since in the country over the years. The changes, which were adopted to meet the needs and trends of education, have in no small way contributed to its delivery.
The colonial government played a very significant role in the development of education in the Gold Coast. Until this time educational activities had been confined to the castles schools.
The second half of the 19th century saw an expansion in educational activities in the Gold Coast. The year 1850 saw the appointment of a Governor for the Gold Coast, who made education the pre-occupation of the new government. By 1856, the British authorities had managed to open more schools, including one girls’ school at Cape Coast. In the same year, the Colonial Chaplain, Rev C.S. Nassels, was appointed superintendent and Inspector of Schools.
A Board of Education was set up in 1882 to control and supervise the system, and the Principal of Fourah Bay College, Rev M. Sunter, was appointed Inspector of Schools. The government acted promptly after realising the difficulty in inspecting all the schools because he was based in Sierra Leone.
Mr George Macdonald was appointed the first Director of Education for the Gold Coast in 1890. This marked the autonomy and full establishment of the Gold Coast Department of Education. The creation of the Department of Education of the Gold Coast marked the beginning of a more unified system of management of schools and other policies on education in the colony.
With the education sector facing challenges, Sir Gordon Guggisberg, on his appointment as Governor, started to address the problems. Thus, the period between 1919 and 1927 saw remarkable developments in the field of education in the Gold Coast. Guggisberg set up a committee of educationists under the Director of Education, Mr D.J. Oman, in 1920. On the committee was an African, Mr Josiah Spio-Garbrah, who had been the headmaster of the then Government Boys’ School at Cape Coast since 1912, and from 1923, Inspector of Schools.
With the handover of the reins of government to Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the Department of Education, which was one of the technical departments of the colonial secretariat, was abolished and replaced with the Ministry of Education and Social Welfare in 1951. It was headed by Kojo Botsio from 1951-1954, who was the first minister.
In 1955, the name of the ministry was changed to the Ministry of Education with Joseph Allasani as minister till 1960 when it was again changed to the Ministry of Information and Education with Kofi Baako as the minister. The Education section was separated from Information in 1961 with A.J. Dowuona-Hammond as the Minister of Education.
A Commissioner for Education, Mojaben Dowuona, was named after the 1966 coup. The designation of the ministry was subsequently changed to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports with William Ofori-Atta as the minister. In 1971, R.R. Amponsah headed the Ministry of Education and Sports. Lt. Col. Paul Nkegbe became the Commissioner for Education from 1972 to 1973 when it was restructured as the Ministry of Education and Culture.
Some of the agencies that operated under the ministry then were the Arts Council of Ghana, which was established in 1968 by NLC Decree No. 252; the Ghana Library Board set up in 1950; the Ghana Institute of Languages established in 1961, the Bureau of Ghana Languages, established in 1951 and the Ghana Teaching Service (now Ghana Education Service) to take care of non-teaching staff set up in 1974.
Between 1974 and 1975, Col. E.O. Nyante was the Commissioner of Education and Culture. From 1976 to 1978, E. Owusu-Fordwuoh took over as Commissioner for Education and Culture. Dr Evans Anfom became Commissioner for Education in 1979, Dr Kwamena Ocran, Minister of Education, Culture and Sports in 1980 and Dr F.K. Buah, Minister of Education in 1981.
Others were Ama Ata Aidoo, Secretary for Education (1982/83), V.C. Dadson, Secretary for Education (1984), Joyce Aryee, Secretary for Education (1985/86), Dr Mohammed Ben Abdallah, Secretary for Education (1987-1988) and K.B. Asante, Secretary for Education (1989-1990). The rest were Dr (Mrs) Mary Grant, Secretary responsible for Education (1991/92) and Dr Alex Ababio, acting Minister of Education (1993), Mr Harry Sawyer (1993-1996), Dr Christina Amoako-Nuama (1997-1999) and Mr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah (1999-2000).
When the current government took the country’s administration in 2000, Prof. Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi was appointed Minister of Education, Youth and Sports in 2001. In 2003, Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu was made Minister of Education, Youth and Sports. The name of the ministry was changed to the Ministry of Education and Sports in 2005 with Yaw Osafo-Maafo heading it. In the same year, following a Cabinet reshuffle, Papa Owusu-Ankomah was made the minister with the name of the ministry changed from the Ministry of Education and Sports to the current Ministry of Education, Science and Sports.
To pursue his presidential ambition, Papa Owusu-Ankomah resigned as minister and Prof. Dominic Fobih was appointed as the minister in 2007.
From the foregoing, it is clear that the education ministry since the colonial era has gone through a lot of metamorphosis so as to meet the needs of the time, among other things.
March 5, 2008
Formal education has undergone several changes since in the country over the years. The changes, which were adopted to meet the needs and trends of education, have in no small way contributed to its delivery.
The colonial government played a very significant role in the development of education in the Gold Coast. Until this time educational activities had been confined to the castles schools.
The second half of the 19th century saw an expansion in educational activities in the Gold Coast. The year 1850 saw the appointment of a Governor for the Gold Coast, who made education the pre-occupation of the new government. By 1856, the British authorities had managed to open more schools, including one girls’ school at Cape Coast. In the same year, the Colonial Chaplain, Rev C.S. Nassels, was appointed superintendent and Inspector of Schools.
A Board of Education was set up in 1882 to control and supervise the system, and the Principal of Fourah Bay College, Rev M. Sunter, was appointed Inspector of Schools. The government acted promptly after realising the difficulty in inspecting all the schools because he was based in Sierra Leone.
Mr George Macdonald was appointed the first Director of Education for the Gold Coast in 1890. This marked the autonomy and full establishment of the Gold Coast Department of Education. The creation of the Department of Education of the Gold Coast marked the beginning of a more unified system of management of schools and other policies on education in the colony.
With the education sector facing challenges, Sir Gordon Guggisberg, on his appointment as Governor, started to address the problems. Thus, the period between 1919 and 1927 saw remarkable developments in the field of education in the Gold Coast. Guggisberg set up a committee of educationists under the Director of Education, Mr D.J. Oman, in 1920. On the committee was an African, Mr Josiah Spio-Garbrah, who had been the headmaster of the then Government Boys’ School at Cape Coast since 1912, and from 1923, Inspector of Schools.
With the handover of the reins of government to Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the Department of Education, which was one of the technical departments of the colonial secretariat, was abolished and replaced with the Ministry of Education and Social Welfare in 1951. It was headed by Kojo Botsio from 1951-1954, who was the first minister.
In 1955, the name of the ministry was changed to the Ministry of Education with Joseph Allasani as minister till 1960 when it was again changed to the Ministry of Information and Education with Kofi Baako as the minister. The Education section was separated from Information in 1961 with A.J. Dowuona-Hammond as the Minister of Education.
A Commissioner for Education, Mojaben Dowuona, was named after the 1966 coup. The designation of the ministry was subsequently changed to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports with William Ofori-Atta as the minister. In 1971, R.R. Amponsah headed the Ministry of Education and Sports. Lt. Col. Paul Nkegbe became the Commissioner for Education from 1972 to 1973 when it was restructured as the Ministry of Education and Culture.
Some of the agencies that operated under the ministry then were the Arts Council of Ghana, which was established in 1968 by NLC Decree No. 252; the Ghana Library Board set up in 1950; the Ghana Institute of Languages established in 1961, the Bureau of Ghana Languages, established in 1951 and the Ghana Teaching Service (now Ghana Education Service) to take care of non-teaching staff set up in 1974.
Between 1974 and 1975, Col. E.O. Nyante was the Commissioner of Education and Culture. From 1976 to 1978, E. Owusu-Fordwuoh took over as Commissioner for Education and Culture. Dr Evans Anfom became Commissioner for Education in 1979, Dr Kwamena Ocran, Minister of Education, Culture and Sports in 1980 and Dr F.K. Buah, Minister of Education in 1981.
Others were Ama Ata Aidoo, Secretary for Education (1982/83), V.C. Dadson, Secretary for Education (1984), Joyce Aryee, Secretary for Education (1985/86), Dr Mohammed Ben Abdallah, Secretary for Education (1987-1988) and K.B. Asante, Secretary for Education (1989-1990). The rest were Dr (Mrs) Mary Grant, Secretary responsible for Education (1991/92) and Dr Alex Ababio, acting Minister of Education (1993), Mr Harry Sawyer (1993-1996), Dr Christina Amoako-Nuama (1997-1999) and Mr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah (1999-2000).
When the current government took the country’s administration in 2000, Prof. Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi was appointed Minister of Education, Youth and Sports in 2001. In 2003, Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu was made Minister of Education, Youth and Sports. The name of the ministry was changed to the Ministry of Education and Sports in 2005 with Yaw Osafo-Maafo heading it. In the same year, following a Cabinet reshuffle, Papa Owusu-Ankomah was made the minister with the name of the ministry changed from the Ministry of Education and Sports to the current Ministry of Education, Science and Sports.
To pursue his presidential ambition, Papa Owusu-Ankomah resigned as minister and Prof. Dominic Fobih was appointed as the minister in 2007.
From the foregoing, it is clear that the education ministry since the colonial era has gone through a lot of metamorphosis so as to meet the needs of the time, among other things.
Directive is to ensure transparancy-GES Boss
Page
March 5, 2008
THE Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr Samuel Bannerman-Mensah, says the service is ready for dialogue with parent-teacher associations (PTAs) on how to modify the decision of the GES on mainstreaming PTA levies into school accounts.
He also assured PTAs that the decision taken by the service was not to take over the running of the associations.
Rather, he said, the move was to ensure greater transparency in the operations of the associations in their scheme of things.
“We don’t intend taking over PTAs. We only want to ensure transparency,” he stated in an interview with the Daily Graphic.
According to him, the GES did not have any hidden agenda, adding that there was nothing for the PTAs to fear, since nothing would be hidden from them.
“There is no cause for alarm,” Mr Bannerman-Mensah assured the PTAs.
He said the GES was ready for dialogue with the PTAs and that if any of them had a good suggestion on how they could modify the GES decision, the service was ready for that.
“If they have a problem, they can come for us to talk. Our decision is about transparency,” he emphasised, adding, “We don’t mean any harm.”
Mr Bannerman-Mensah, who acknowledged the contributions of PTAs, said they had over the years contributed greatly to the development of schools.
Asked why the PTAs were not consulted before the directive was taken, he said, “It is not every decision that you take that you have to consult.”
On whether the GES directive would not lead to the breaching of the constitutions of PTAs, since the signatories to the accounts had been mandated to so, he said the PTAs would have to amend their constitutions.
“If the constitution is not serving the purpose, what do you do?” he asked.
A letter signed by the Mr Bannerman-Mensah had said, “All PTA levies and related expenditure should be captured in the financial statements of the institutions, even though separate cash books could be kept for easy tracking of data.”
It said since the PTA levy was being treated as a public fund, it should be operated in line with all existing financial regulations, such as passing of supplies through the stores.
“The head of the institution, with the support of his accountant, will provide the PTA with a situational report at its meetings. The signatories to the bank account for operating levies shall be the headmaster, the accountant and the PTA chairman as automatic member,” it stated.
March 5, 2008
THE Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr Samuel Bannerman-Mensah, says the service is ready for dialogue with parent-teacher associations (PTAs) on how to modify the decision of the GES on mainstreaming PTA levies into school accounts.
He also assured PTAs that the decision taken by the service was not to take over the running of the associations.
Rather, he said, the move was to ensure greater transparency in the operations of the associations in their scheme of things.
“We don’t intend taking over PTAs. We only want to ensure transparency,” he stated in an interview with the Daily Graphic.
According to him, the GES did not have any hidden agenda, adding that there was nothing for the PTAs to fear, since nothing would be hidden from them.
“There is no cause for alarm,” Mr Bannerman-Mensah assured the PTAs.
He said the GES was ready for dialogue with the PTAs and that if any of them had a good suggestion on how they could modify the GES decision, the service was ready for that.
“If they have a problem, they can come for us to talk. Our decision is about transparency,” he emphasised, adding, “We don’t mean any harm.”
Mr Bannerman-Mensah, who acknowledged the contributions of PTAs, said they had over the years contributed greatly to the development of schools.
Asked why the PTAs were not consulted before the directive was taken, he said, “It is not every decision that you take that you have to consult.”
On whether the GES directive would not lead to the breaching of the constitutions of PTAs, since the signatories to the accounts had been mandated to so, he said the PTAs would have to amend their constitutions.
“If the constitution is not serving the purpose, what do you do?” he asked.
A letter signed by the Mr Bannerman-Mensah had said, “All PTA levies and related expenditure should be captured in the financial statements of the institutions, even though separate cash books could be kept for easy tracking of data.”
It said since the PTA levy was being treated as a public fund, it should be operated in line with all existing financial regulations, such as passing of supplies through the stores.
“The head of the institution, with the support of his accountant, will provide the PTA with a situational report at its meetings. The signatories to the bank account for operating levies shall be the headmaster, the accountant and the PTA chairman as automatic member,” it stated.
GIJ re-introduces entrance examinations
Page 17
March 5, 2008
THE Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) will, from next academic year, re-introduce the entrance examination as part of the requirements for admission to the institute.
This means that before applicants gained admission to the institute, they would be required to pass an entrance examination and an interview.
The acting Rector of GIJ, Mr Kweku Rockson, who disclosed this in an interview with the Daily Graphic, said the entrance examination was to ensure that the institute got good materials for its programmes.
The institute cancelled the entrance examination in 2001 following complaints by some applicants that the selection process was not fair.
The institute has for about four years now stopped using entrance examinations as part of the requirements for admitting students to its programmes.
Mr Rockson said since the GIJ was put under the Ministry of Education Science and Sports (MOESS), there had been significant improvement in the running of the institute.
He said the conditions of service had been improved and so the institute now recruited full-time lecturers instead of depending on part-time lecturers who were hired as a result of poor conditions of service.
“Improved conditions of service had led to improved staffing conditions,” he said, adding that the institute was using the bulk of the funds to continue the development of a complex at Okponglo, comprising lecture theatres and an administration block.
Mr Rockson indicated that very soon, the institute would secure very good books for communications studies.
He said the institute had received assistance from MOESS and the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund).
March 5, 2008
THE Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) will, from next academic year, re-introduce the entrance examination as part of the requirements for admission to the institute.
This means that before applicants gained admission to the institute, they would be required to pass an entrance examination and an interview.
The acting Rector of GIJ, Mr Kweku Rockson, who disclosed this in an interview with the Daily Graphic, said the entrance examination was to ensure that the institute got good materials for its programmes.
The institute cancelled the entrance examination in 2001 following complaints by some applicants that the selection process was not fair.
The institute has for about four years now stopped using entrance examinations as part of the requirements for admitting students to its programmes.
Mr Rockson said since the GIJ was put under the Ministry of Education Science and Sports (MOESS), there had been significant improvement in the running of the institute.
He said the conditions of service had been improved and so the institute now recruited full-time lecturers instead of depending on part-time lecturers who were hired as a result of poor conditions of service.
“Improved conditions of service had led to improved staffing conditions,” he said, adding that the institute was using the bulk of the funds to continue the development of a complex at Okponglo, comprising lecture theatres and an administration block.
Mr Rockson indicated that very soon, the institute would secure very good books for communications studies.
He said the institute had received assistance from MOESS and the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund).
44 Maths teachers trained
Page 17
March 5, 2008
A two-week workshop for 44 Mathematics teachers from the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI) has ended at the Meagasa Mathematics Academy at Lashibi.
The participants were taken through the NVTI mathematics syllabus by the Founder and Executive Director of Meagasa Mathematics Academy, Prof Sitsofe E. Anku.
In his address at the closing ceremony, Prof Anku urged the participants to make students see the relationship between mathematics and real life.
He said they should make the teaching of the subject interesting and enjoyable to students, adding that they should also break the mental barrier that surrounded mathematics.
The Director of the NVTI, Mr S.B. Amponsah, congratulated the participants and urged them to go to their individual schools to impart the knowledge they had acquired.
He said the participants should not let the knowledge and certificates they had acquired keep them away from those who did not have the opportunity to attend the workshop; rather they should let their approach to the teaching of mathematics in the classroom be the determining factor.
He said many were those in the Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) sub-sector who did not see their way clear as there had been major changes in such areas as articulation, course, content and testable subjects.
Mr Amponsah said the training was part of the changes that had taken place and indicated that with the changes, vocational trainees would spend four years in school instead of three years.
“The new direction calls for a review of curriculum and the active participation of the industry in the TVET delivery,” he said, adding that the NVTI was collaborating with the Danish Hairdressers and Beauticians Association and the Ghana Hairdressers and Beauticians Association to produce a syllabus for use by hairdressers and beauticians in the country.
Under the new arrangements, he said, on-the-job training was going to form an integral part of the training for all NVTIs, and that as a result of the industry’s inability to absorb all the trainees, there was a programme to train master craftsmen who would in turn absorb the trainees for training in the various trade areas.
The workshop prefect, Mr Kodzo Baku, said the workshop went beyond the mere training of instructors to the reawakening of the key behavioural factors enhancing teachers’ productivity and role in the drive for mathematics as an essential tool for development.
March 5, 2008
A two-week workshop for 44 Mathematics teachers from the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI) has ended at the Meagasa Mathematics Academy at Lashibi.
The participants were taken through the NVTI mathematics syllabus by the Founder and Executive Director of Meagasa Mathematics Academy, Prof Sitsofe E. Anku.
In his address at the closing ceremony, Prof Anku urged the participants to make students see the relationship between mathematics and real life.
He said they should make the teaching of the subject interesting and enjoyable to students, adding that they should also break the mental barrier that surrounded mathematics.
The Director of the NVTI, Mr S.B. Amponsah, congratulated the participants and urged them to go to their individual schools to impart the knowledge they had acquired.
He said the participants should not let the knowledge and certificates they had acquired keep them away from those who did not have the opportunity to attend the workshop; rather they should let their approach to the teaching of mathematics in the classroom be the determining factor.
He said many were those in the Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) sub-sector who did not see their way clear as there had been major changes in such areas as articulation, course, content and testable subjects.
Mr Amponsah said the training was part of the changes that had taken place and indicated that with the changes, vocational trainees would spend four years in school instead of three years.
“The new direction calls for a review of curriculum and the active participation of the industry in the TVET delivery,” he said, adding that the NVTI was collaborating with the Danish Hairdressers and Beauticians Association and the Ghana Hairdressers and Beauticians Association to produce a syllabus for use by hairdressers and beauticians in the country.
Under the new arrangements, he said, on-the-job training was going to form an integral part of the training for all NVTIs, and that as a result of the industry’s inability to absorb all the trainees, there was a programme to train master craftsmen who would in turn absorb the trainees for training in the various trade areas.
The workshop prefect, Mr Kodzo Baku, said the workshop went beyond the mere training of instructors to the reawakening of the key behavioural factors enhancing teachers’ productivity and role in the drive for mathematics as an essential tool for development.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Seminar on corporate social responsibility held
Page 38
March 3, 2008
THE Executive Director of Opportunities Industrialisation Centre International (OICI), Ghana, Dr Josiah Mills Cobbah, has called on companies and philanthropic institutions to monitor and evaluate their corporate social responsibility programmes to the society.
The move, he said, was to ensure that their programmes achieved their desired objectives.
Dr Cobbah made the call at the third corporate social responsibility seminar and business luncheon organised by the Opportunities Industrialisation Centre International, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), in Accra.
The seminar, which was on the theme: “Doing Good and Stimulating Business in Ghana”, was to look at corporate social responsibility and its benefits to the company and community, share lessons learned from corporate organisations and provide networking opportunities with corporate leaders.
Dr Cobbah stressed the need for corporate social responsibility programmes to be incorporated into the vision, mission, business plans and budgets of companies and institutions.
“Companies should identify areas for their corporate social responsibility like health and water micro-finance and target groups like the youth and women. Companies need to commit to a focused, long-term planned corporate social responsibility programme,” he said.
He underscored the need for companies to measure the impact of their social responsibility programmes to ensure that they achieved their intended objectives, adding that “the commercial or business objectives of the company must ensure that investments made yield sustainable returns appreciated by all constituents”.
Dr Cobbah mentioned some of the benefits of corporate social responsibility as positive social investment and change, maximising business profit, heightened reputation and image in the eyes of the public and employees, as well as improved company reputation and risk management.
Giving an overview of corporate social responsibility practices in the country, he said most companies were focused solely on population or profit goals and targeted with limited, unplanned corporate philanthropy as and when the need arose.
He said some companies had moved to corporate social marketing and had created foundations, while others had moved further to socially responsible business, adding that overall, corporate social responsibility practice, except for big multi-national companies in the country, was limited and poor.
The Country Representative of OICI, Ms Carla Dominique Denizard, said the NGO could help design and co-implement social responsibility programmes and ensure that the benefits intended for such programmes were achieved.
She said it also monitored and evaluated the impacts of programmes to make sure they achieved the intended benefits and also assisted in showcasing the social good that companies did with clients, employees and the public.
“We are helping companies design and implement sustainable programmes. We are helping them achieve both sustainable development and meet corporate social responsibility needs,” she said.
Ms Denizard said the vision of OICI was to become the premier NGO helping the poor and disadvantaged in the country through the design and implementation of integrated community development and skills training programme.
March 3, 2008
THE Executive Director of Opportunities Industrialisation Centre International (OICI), Ghana, Dr Josiah Mills Cobbah, has called on companies and philanthropic institutions to monitor and evaluate their corporate social responsibility programmes to the society.
The move, he said, was to ensure that their programmes achieved their desired objectives.
Dr Cobbah made the call at the third corporate social responsibility seminar and business luncheon organised by the Opportunities Industrialisation Centre International, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), in Accra.
The seminar, which was on the theme: “Doing Good and Stimulating Business in Ghana”, was to look at corporate social responsibility and its benefits to the company and community, share lessons learned from corporate organisations and provide networking opportunities with corporate leaders.
Dr Cobbah stressed the need for corporate social responsibility programmes to be incorporated into the vision, mission, business plans and budgets of companies and institutions.
“Companies should identify areas for their corporate social responsibility like health and water micro-finance and target groups like the youth and women. Companies need to commit to a focused, long-term planned corporate social responsibility programme,” he said.
He underscored the need for companies to measure the impact of their social responsibility programmes to ensure that they achieved their intended objectives, adding that “the commercial or business objectives of the company must ensure that investments made yield sustainable returns appreciated by all constituents”.
Dr Cobbah mentioned some of the benefits of corporate social responsibility as positive social investment and change, maximising business profit, heightened reputation and image in the eyes of the public and employees, as well as improved company reputation and risk management.
Giving an overview of corporate social responsibility practices in the country, he said most companies were focused solely on population or profit goals and targeted with limited, unplanned corporate philanthropy as and when the need arose.
He said some companies had moved to corporate social marketing and had created foundations, while others had moved further to socially responsible business, adding that overall, corporate social responsibility practice, except for big multi-national companies in the country, was limited and poor.
The Country Representative of OICI, Ms Carla Dominique Denizard, said the NGO could help design and co-implement social responsibility programmes and ensure that the benefits intended for such programmes were achieved.
She said it also monitored and evaluated the impacts of programmes to make sure they achieved the intended benefits and also assisted in showcasing the social good that companies did with clients, employees and the public.
“We are helping companies design and implement sustainable programmes. We are helping them achieve both sustainable development and meet corporate social responsibility needs,” she said.
Ms Denizard said the vision of OICI was to become the premier NGO helping the poor and disadvantaged in the country through the design and implementation of integrated community development and skills training programme.
Senya Beraku faces water shortage
Page 47
Date: March 3, 2008
COMMERCIAL and educational activities are grinding to a halt in the Central Regional town of Senya Bereku following an acute water shortage that has hit the area.
The situation has affected health services and resulted in empty classrooms among other things.
Scores of students, teachers and other residents spend hours walking long distances in search of water for household chores.
According to a resident, Mr Anthony Apraku, the situation, which had persisted for about two years now, had reached its zenith, thereby crippling economic and educational activities.
“A bucket of water is sold for 25 Gp. Even with the 25 Gp, it is very difficult getting water to buy,” he said, adding that “the government would have to come to our aid now before something else happens”.
A pensioner, Mr Jasper Bonney, said only those who had tanks or reservoirs bought water from operators of water tankers, adding that for the majority of those who did not have such facilities, they had to search for water every day.
A student of the Senya Senior High School, Emmanuel Kwesi, said he went to school late as a result of the fruitless search for water.
“The situation is terrible and something would have to be done now. We need water urgently to survive,” he said.
The Chairman of the Senya Urban Council, Mr Kwame Onasis Anderson, told the Daily Graphic that the council had made efforts to get water.
“I have just queued for four hours to buy a bucket of water for 25 Gp,” he lamented, and said “master we are suffering in this town”.
He said although the Member Parliament for the area, Mr Oppey Abbey, had raised the water issue on the floor of the House, nothing had been done.
As a temporary measure, he said, water could be distributed at cheaper rates through tankers, since most people in the town could not afford to the 25 Gp for a bucket of water.
Mr Anderson said some teachers and nurses had threatened to request for a transfer if the council did not expedite action about the issue.
Date: March 3, 2008
COMMERCIAL and educational activities are grinding to a halt in the Central Regional town of Senya Bereku following an acute water shortage that has hit the area.
The situation has affected health services and resulted in empty classrooms among other things.
Scores of students, teachers and other residents spend hours walking long distances in search of water for household chores.
According to a resident, Mr Anthony Apraku, the situation, which had persisted for about two years now, had reached its zenith, thereby crippling economic and educational activities.
“A bucket of water is sold for 25 Gp. Even with the 25 Gp, it is very difficult getting water to buy,” he said, adding that “the government would have to come to our aid now before something else happens”.
A pensioner, Mr Jasper Bonney, said only those who had tanks or reservoirs bought water from operators of water tankers, adding that for the majority of those who did not have such facilities, they had to search for water every day.
A student of the Senya Senior High School, Emmanuel Kwesi, said he went to school late as a result of the fruitless search for water.
“The situation is terrible and something would have to be done now. We need water urgently to survive,” he said.
The Chairman of the Senya Urban Council, Mr Kwame Onasis Anderson, told the Daily Graphic that the council had made efforts to get water.
“I have just queued for four hours to buy a bucket of water for 25 Gp,” he lamented, and said “master we are suffering in this town”.
He said although the Member Parliament for the area, Mr Oppey Abbey, had raised the water issue on the floor of the House, nothing had been done.
As a temporary measure, he said, water could be distributed at cheaper rates through tankers, since most people in the town could not afford to the 25 Gp for a bucket of water.
Mr Anderson said some teachers and nurses had threatened to request for a transfer if the council did not expedite action about the issue.
PTAs object to GES decision
Page 20
March 3, 2008
THE coalition of parent-teacher associations in the Greater Accra Region has objected to the decision of the Ghana Education Service (GES) to mainstream all PTA levies into school accounts.
“The directive to incorporate PTA funds, which are private financial resources, into public school finances violates the Financial Administration Act 2003, Act 654, and is a recipe for advancing corruption among school authorities,” it said.
Addressing a press conference in Accra on Thursday, the acting Chairman of the coalition, Mr Alexander Y. Danso, said the PTAs were guided by their respective constitutions that stipulated officers and signatories to their accounts, as well as committees and sub-committees that supervised the implementation of projects.
He said the attempt to override the constitutions of the various PTAs and usurp their accounts by administrative fiat ran counter to the basic tenets of democracy, good governance and due process.
“Again, it goes against the rule of law for a public office holder to attempt to subvert the rights and aspirations of citizens in associations,” he said, and indicated that there was nowhere in the country’s Constitution that it had been stated that a public office holder was empowered to order the take-over of private financial resources by the stroke of a pen.
Mr Danso said if the GES wanted any formal interest in PTA funds, it could do that only by mutual consultation and urged all banks to observe strict professionalism in upholding the dictates of PTA constitutions concerning the signatories.
He appealed to PTAs nation-wide to exercise restraint, hoping that the GES would see reason and do the right thing for normalcy to be restored.
A letter signed by the Director-General of the GES, Mr Samuel Bannerman-Mensah, said, “All PTA levies and related expenditure should be captured in the financial statements of the institutions, even though separate cash books could be kept for easy tracking of data.”
It said since the PTA levy was being treated as a public fund, it should be operated in line with all existing financial regulations, such as passing of supplies through the stores.
“The head of the institution, with the support of his accountant, will provide the PTA with a situational report at its meetings. The signatories to the bank account for operating levies shall be the headmaster, the accountant and the PTA chairman as automatic member,” it stated.
March 3, 2008
THE coalition of parent-teacher associations in the Greater Accra Region has objected to the decision of the Ghana Education Service (GES) to mainstream all PTA levies into school accounts.
“The directive to incorporate PTA funds, which are private financial resources, into public school finances violates the Financial Administration Act 2003, Act 654, and is a recipe for advancing corruption among school authorities,” it said.
Addressing a press conference in Accra on Thursday, the acting Chairman of the coalition, Mr Alexander Y. Danso, said the PTAs were guided by their respective constitutions that stipulated officers and signatories to their accounts, as well as committees and sub-committees that supervised the implementation of projects.
He said the attempt to override the constitutions of the various PTAs and usurp their accounts by administrative fiat ran counter to the basic tenets of democracy, good governance and due process.
“Again, it goes against the rule of law for a public office holder to attempt to subvert the rights and aspirations of citizens in associations,” he said, and indicated that there was nowhere in the country’s Constitution that it had been stated that a public office holder was empowered to order the take-over of private financial resources by the stroke of a pen.
Mr Danso said if the GES wanted any formal interest in PTA funds, it could do that only by mutual consultation and urged all banks to observe strict professionalism in upholding the dictates of PTA constitutions concerning the signatories.
He appealed to PTAs nation-wide to exercise restraint, hoping that the GES would see reason and do the right thing for normalcy to be restored.
A letter signed by the Director-General of the GES, Mr Samuel Bannerman-Mensah, said, “All PTA levies and related expenditure should be captured in the financial statements of the institutions, even though separate cash books could be kept for easy tracking of data.”
It said since the PTA levy was being treated as a public fund, it should be operated in line with all existing financial regulations, such as passing of supplies through the stores.
“The head of the institution, with the support of his accountant, will provide the PTA with a situational report at its meetings. The signatories to the bank account for operating levies shall be the headmaster, the accountant and the PTA chairman as automatic member,” it stated.
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