30-10-09
Front Page Lead
THE Ministry of Education has formally signed a contract with Printex Ghana Limited for the production of fabrics for the free school uniform programme announced by the Government.
This has thus paved the way for the company to begin the production of the materials which will be sewn by local tailors and seamstresses.
The Head of the Public Relations Unit of the Ministry of Education, Mr Paul Krampah who disclosed this in an interview, noted that “I have seen samples of the fabrics and they are nice”.
He said the programme to provide the free uniforms was on course and beneficiary pupils would get the uniforms before the end of the first term of the 2009-2010 academic year.
Under the programme, 1.6 million school uniforms would be provided to be distributed to pupils across the country.
The provision of the free uniforms was contained in the 2009 budget statement delivered by the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Kwabena Dufuor.
The initiative is to benefit pupils from deprived communities as part of efforts to relieve the burden on their parents and encourage attendance in school.
Mr Krampah said apart from increasing access to school, the Government was committed to the provision of infrastructure, motivation for teachers and improvement of the sector.
According to him, local tailors and seamstresses would be given the mandate to sew the uniforms for distribution.
Mr Krampah said there would be no separate uniforms for pupils of public-mission schools in deprived communities under the free uniform policy.
He said the prescribed school uniform worn by public basic school pupils was what would be distributed to the beneficiary pupils.
“All the beneficiary schools, whether mission or not, would get the brown uniform. It is the prescribed uniform majority of the schools use,” he said.
Mission schools spread across the length and breadth of the country have separate uniforms from the Government schools.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Lamptey-Mills not yet free -GES, others want full-scale investigation
30-10-09
Front Page
OFFICIALS of the Ghana Education Service (GES), the Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS) and others concerned about child and human rights issues have waded into the Lamptey-Mills saga with moves to conduct a full-scale investigation into the matter.
Mr Enoch Nii Lamptey-Mills, also known as Mr Tee, the proprietor of Great Lamptey-Mills Institute, allegedly impregnated one of his students, then 16, and forced her to marry him. But an Accra Circuit Court, presided over by Mrs Georgina Mensah Datsa, on Thursday, October 22, 2009 discharged him of misdemeanour after the victim’s father had intervened for an out-of-court settlement.
The GES yesterday expressed indignation at the development, pointing out that “because the matter was in court, we decided not to go into it. But now that it is out of court, we are beginning investigations to ascertain its veracity or otherwise”.
Others who have waded into the matter are Nana Oye Lithur, a lawyer and human rights advocate, who authored a scathing letter published in the Daily Graphic issue of yesterday, and Child's Rights International (CRI), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) which has taken the matter to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).
The Head of the Public Relations Unit of the GES, Mr Charles Parker-Allotey, said in an interview with the Daily Graphic yesterday that Mr Lamptey-Mills and those connected with the matter would soon be invited to assist the GES in its investigations.
The guidelines of the GES under which all schools, be they private or public, operate, needed to be followed strictly to ensure smooth teaching and learning, he said.
The GNAPS has welcomed the decision of the GES to go into the matter.
A source at the GNAPS said the truth needed to be known to clear all the doubts surrounding the matter.
In its petition to CHRAJ, the CRI stated that the “organisation has followed this matter from the beginning to its current development when the court granted the out-of-court settlement and would like to formally apply for your assistance to investigate and intervene in the issue”.
“The out-of-court settlement will involve the family, which cannot be trusted when it comes to the best interest of the child due to the initial agreement between Mr Lamptey-Mills and the family which could not yield any result for the said girl. Per the Children's Act, 1998 (Act 560) Section 48 Subsection 2d, we ask your intervention in order to make a claim of a proper maintenance order for the said girl," a statement signed by the Executive Director of the CRI, Mr Bright Appiah, said.
It said in such matters it was the constitutional right of the child to obtain a care order, as directed by Section 20 of the Children's Act 560, but investigations revealed that such a process had not taken place.
The absence of that service, it said, amounted to the fundamental violation of the child's rights to care and protection.
"Your outfit is, therefore, being implored to investigate why the Department of Social Welfare did not obtain the care order for the said girl in the matter when the trial was ongoing.
“Further, Mr Lamptey-Mills assumed the role of a parent as a proprietor in the school and, therefore, if, as a parent to all the children, he could use his position and posture to his advantage as per the rule of in loco parentis, we request your assistance to investigate whether this act amounted to a conflict of interest," it said.
The statement also pleaded with the commission to restrain the media from associating the personality of Mr Lamptey-Mills with the school, since, as an institution, it was providing services for children.
That, it said, was to say that the continuous publication of the school would not provide the conducive environment for the development of the children already in the institute.
"We, therefore, crave the indulgence of CHRAJ, per the interest of the child, as stated under the welfare principle of the Children's Act 560, to investigate the issue for the betterment of the child whose interest is paramount to CRI," it said.
The Commissioner of CHRAJ, Mr Emile Short, confirmed that CHRAJ had received the complaint from the CRI and was closely monitoring developments.
He said CHRAJ was not allowed to investigate cases pending at the courts, explaining that the case would qualify as such if the court had asked parties to settle the matter out-of-court and report back.
However, since the case bordered on the rights of a child, the commission was studying the proceedings of the court carefully to determine the course of action to take, he added.
Front Page
OFFICIALS of the Ghana Education Service (GES), the Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS) and others concerned about child and human rights issues have waded into the Lamptey-Mills saga with moves to conduct a full-scale investigation into the matter.
Mr Enoch Nii Lamptey-Mills, also known as Mr Tee, the proprietor of Great Lamptey-Mills Institute, allegedly impregnated one of his students, then 16, and forced her to marry him. But an Accra Circuit Court, presided over by Mrs Georgina Mensah Datsa, on Thursday, October 22, 2009 discharged him of misdemeanour after the victim’s father had intervened for an out-of-court settlement.
The GES yesterday expressed indignation at the development, pointing out that “because the matter was in court, we decided not to go into it. But now that it is out of court, we are beginning investigations to ascertain its veracity or otherwise”.
Others who have waded into the matter are Nana Oye Lithur, a lawyer and human rights advocate, who authored a scathing letter published in the Daily Graphic issue of yesterday, and Child's Rights International (CRI), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) which has taken the matter to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).
The Head of the Public Relations Unit of the GES, Mr Charles Parker-Allotey, said in an interview with the Daily Graphic yesterday that Mr Lamptey-Mills and those connected with the matter would soon be invited to assist the GES in its investigations.
The guidelines of the GES under which all schools, be they private or public, operate, needed to be followed strictly to ensure smooth teaching and learning, he said.
The GNAPS has welcomed the decision of the GES to go into the matter.
A source at the GNAPS said the truth needed to be known to clear all the doubts surrounding the matter.
In its petition to CHRAJ, the CRI stated that the “organisation has followed this matter from the beginning to its current development when the court granted the out-of-court settlement and would like to formally apply for your assistance to investigate and intervene in the issue”.
“The out-of-court settlement will involve the family, which cannot be trusted when it comes to the best interest of the child due to the initial agreement between Mr Lamptey-Mills and the family which could not yield any result for the said girl. Per the Children's Act, 1998 (Act 560) Section 48 Subsection 2d, we ask your intervention in order to make a claim of a proper maintenance order for the said girl," a statement signed by the Executive Director of the CRI, Mr Bright Appiah, said.
It said in such matters it was the constitutional right of the child to obtain a care order, as directed by Section 20 of the Children's Act 560, but investigations revealed that such a process had not taken place.
The absence of that service, it said, amounted to the fundamental violation of the child's rights to care and protection.
"Your outfit is, therefore, being implored to investigate why the Department of Social Welfare did not obtain the care order for the said girl in the matter when the trial was ongoing.
“Further, Mr Lamptey-Mills assumed the role of a parent as a proprietor in the school and, therefore, if, as a parent to all the children, he could use his position and posture to his advantage as per the rule of in loco parentis, we request your assistance to investigate whether this act amounted to a conflict of interest," it said.
The statement also pleaded with the commission to restrain the media from associating the personality of Mr Lamptey-Mills with the school, since, as an institution, it was providing services for children.
That, it said, was to say that the continuous publication of the school would not provide the conducive environment for the development of the children already in the institute.
"We, therefore, crave the indulgence of CHRAJ, per the interest of the child, as stated under the welfare principle of the Children's Act 560, to investigate the issue for the betterment of the child whose interest is paramount to CRI," it said.
The Commissioner of CHRAJ, Mr Emile Short, confirmed that CHRAJ had received the complaint from the CRI and was closely monitoring developments.
He said CHRAJ was not allowed to investigate cases pending at the courts, explaining that the case would qualify as such if the court had asked parties to settle the matter out-of-court and report back.
However, since the case bordered on the rights of a child, the commission was studying the proceedings of the court carefully to determine the course of action to take, he added.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Graduates in Limbo
29-10-09
Page 1 Lead
ABOUT 100 prospective nurses who have graduated from the School of Nursing of the University of Ghana, Legon, will not take part in this year’s licensure examination which will qualify them to practise their profession.
The predicament of the graduates has resulted from the refusal of the Nurses and Midwives Council (NMC) to register them for the examination which begins on Monday, November 2, 2009 and ends on December 18, 2009.
The council says the graduates had failed to meet the entry requirements to pursue the Nursing programme, although they had gone through a four-year study at the university.
But the graduates, some of whom graduated with First Class honours, contended that once they met the requirements to enter the School of Nursing, they should be allowed to write the examination.
In addition, they claimed that when the issue first cropped up, a stakeholders’ meeting held on March 25, 2009 agreed that they be granted amnesty to write the examination.
In defence of its position, the Registrar of the NMC, Rev Veronica Darko, said, “The School of Nursing, University of Ghana, has been admitting students who possess aggregate results that do not meet what has been prescribed and advertised by the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the council.”
“Whereas the Nursing and Midwifery Training colleges admit students with aggregate 24 or better in six subjects — three core and three electives — in the specified options for their diploma programme, the School of Nursing, which offers a degree programme, admits students with aggregate 25 or more, with the excuse that those students are fee-paying,” she said in response to an earlier petition by the students.
The Dean of the School of Nursing, Dr Ernestina Donkor, who confirmed in an interview that, indeed, the graduates had not been indexed to write the examination, said she did not know whether the school had been aware of the requirements of the council before admitting the students.
In September 2007, she said, the requirements submitted by the council indicated that students should make A1-C6 in the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) or A-D in the then Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSSCE) in the core subjects of English, Mathematics and Integrated Science.
For the electives, she said, A1-E8 in the WASSCE or A-E in the SSSCE were the requirements, adding that efforts were currently underway to ensure that the graduates wrote the examination.
The affected graduates, however, argued that at the stakeholders’ meeting referred to earlier, it had been agreed that they should be granted amnesty to write the examination.
They provided a letter signed by the Provost of the College of Health Sciences of the University of Ghana, Prof A.L. Lawson, and addressed to the Director of Human Resource Development at the Ministry of Health, Dr Ebenezer Appiah-Denkyira.
The letter read in part, "In response to the agreement reached, I furnish you with a list of students from the School of Nursing, University of Ghana, who need amnesty to make them eligible for indexing for the Nurses and Midwives Council's professional examination."
On behalf of his colleagues, the President of the National Health Students Association of Ghana, Mr Albert Evedzi, called on the government to take a critical look at the matter, since the failure of the council to allow the graduates to write the examination would deprive the country of the opportunity to increase its stock of nurses to meet its health needs.
"While the health system in Ghana is suffering from inadequate health workers, the NMC has decided to worsen the situation by refusing to register some graduate nurses from the University of Ghana for the licensure examination this year," he stated.
Rev Darko dismissed the graduates’ argument that it had been agreed at the stakeholders’ meeting that they be granted amnesty to write the examination.
“It was not decided that the students of the School of Nursing of the University of Ghana should be granted amnesty. Rather, a consensus was reached that the request for amnesty should be forwarded to the council for consideration,” she said, explaining that “due to the absence of a governing board, I referred the matter to the National Accreditation Board (NAB) for advice, since it is in charge of the accreditation of programmes at the tertiary level”.
Responding to the NMC’s request, the NAB, in a letter signed by Mr Richard K. Adjei, a Senior Assistant Secretary to the Executive Secretary, said the board had referred the NMC’s letter to the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. C.N.B. Tagoe, for his comment.
“Meanwhile, the board’s Institutional Audit Team is drawing up a programme to assess admissions to the School of Nursing,” the letter indicated.
Rev Darko said in 2007 the Governing Board of the council, on humanitarian grounds, granted concessions to students admitted to the School of Nursing without the prescribed entry requirements.
She said when the council, in 2008, granted students another concession to write the examination, it was queried by the NAB, the organisation established by law to regulate tertiary education programmes in the country.
Dr Appiah-Denkyira, who also confirmed the current problem the graduates were facing, told the Daily Graphic that the matter would be looked into to ensure an amicable settlement.
Page 1 Lead
ABOUT 100 prospective nurses who have graduated from the School of Nursing of the University of Ghana, Legon, will not take part in this year’s licensure examination which will qualify them to practise their profession.
The predicament of the graduates has resulted from the refusal of the Nurses and Midwives Council (NMC) to register them for the examination which begins on Monday, November 2, 2009 and ends on December 18, 2009.
The council says the graduates had failed to meet the entry requirements to pursue the Nursing programme, although they had gone through a four-year study at the university.
But the graduates, some of whom graduated with First Class honours, contended that once they met the requirements to enter the School of Nursing, they should be allowed to write the examination.
In addition, they claimed that when the issue first cropped up, a stakeholders’ meeting held on March 25, 2009 agreed that they be granted amnesty to write the examination.
In defence of its position, the Registrar of the NMC, Rev Veronica Darko, said, “The School of Nursing, University of Ghana, has been admitting students who possess aggregate results that do not meet what has been prescribed and advertised by the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the council.”
“Whereas the Nursing and Midwifery Training colleges admit students with aggregate 24 or better in six subjects — three core and three electives — in the specified options for their diploma programme, the School of Nursing, which offers a degree programme, admits students with aggregate 25 or more, with the excuse that those students are fee-paying,” she said in response to an earlier petition by the students.
The Dean of the School of Nursing, Dr Ernestina Donkor, who confirmed in an interview that, indeed, the graduates had not been indexed to write the examination, said she did not know whether the school had been aware of the requirements of the council before admitting the students.
In September 2007, she said, the requirements submitted by the council indicated that students should make A1-C6 in the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) or A-D in the then Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSSCE) in the core subjects of English, Mathematics and Integrated Science.
For the electives, she said, A1-E8 in the WASSCE or A-E in the SSSCE were the requirements, adding that efforts were currently underway to ensure that the graduates wrote the examination.
The affected graduates, however, argued that at the stakeholders’ meeting referred to earlier, it had been agreed that they should be granted amnesty to write the examination.
They provided a letter signed by the Provost of the College of Health Sciences of the University of Ghana, Prof A.L. Lawson, and addressed to the Director of Human Resource Development at the Ministry of Health, Dr Ebenezer Appiah-Denkyira.
The letter read in part, "In response to the agreement reached, I furnish you with a list of students from the School of Nursing, University of Ghana, who need amnesty to make them eligible for indexing for the Nurses and Midwives Council's professional examination."
On behalf of his colleagues, the President of the National Health Students Association of Ghana, Mr Albert Evedzi, called on the government to take a critical look at the matter, since the failure of the council to allow the graduates to write the examination would deprive the country of the opportunity to increase its stock of nurses to meet its health needs.
"While the health system in Ghana is suffering from inadequate health workers, the NMC has decided to worsen the situation by refusing to register some graduate nurses from the University of Ghana for the licensure examination this year," he stated.
Rev Darko dismissed the graduates’ argument that it had been agreed at the stakeholders’ meeting that they be granted amnesty to write the examination.
“It was not decided that the students of the School of Nursing of the University of Ghana should be granted amnesty. Rather, a consensus was reached that the request for amnesty should be forwarded to the council for consideration,” she said, explaining that “due to the absence of a governing board, I referred the matter to the National Accreditation Board (NAB) for advice, since it is in charge of the accreditation of programmes at the tertiary level”.
Responding to the NMC’s request, the NAB, in a letter signed by Mr Richard K. Adjei, a Senior Assistant Secretary to the Executive Secretary, said the board had referred the NMC’s letter to the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. C.N.B. Tagoe, for his comment.
“Meanwhile, the board’s Institutional Audit Team is drawing up a programme to assess admissions to the School of Nursing,” the letter indicated.
Rev Darko said in 2007 the Governing Board of the council, on humanitarian grounds, granted concessions to students admitted to the School of Nursing without the prescribed entry requirements.
She said when the council, in 2008, granted students another concession to write the examination, it was queried by the NAB, the organisation established by law to regulate tertiary education programmes in the country.
Dr Appiah-Denkyira, who also confirmed the current problem the graduates were facing, told the Daily Graphic that the matter would be looked into to ensure an amicable settlement.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Sierra Leone's Media Commission delegation in Ghana
Spread
8-10-09
A FOUR-MEMBER delegation of the Independent Media Commission of Sierra Leone is in the country to explore the possibility of partnering media organisations to develop Sierra Leone’s media industry.
This follows Sierra Leone’s emergence from a long period of protracted civil war.
Since its arrival, the delegation has visited a number of media organisations including the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL).
The delegation is led by Mrs Bernadette Cole, the Chairperson of the Independent Media Commission, and includes Mrs Casandra Davies, member; Mr Agustine Garmeh, member; and Mr Christo Johnson, member.
During a courtesy call on the Managing Director of the GCGL, Mr Ibrahim Awal, the leader of the delegation, Mrs Cole, said the commission was set up by an Act of Parliament in 2000 and established in 2001 with a membership of 11.
The objectives, she said, included improving the level of professionalism in the media through the provision of training, encourage media pluralism, receive and settle complaints, as well as issue licenses.
Currently, she said, licences had been given to 80 individuals to set up newspapers, and that out of the number only about 25 newspapers had been operating.
Mrs Cole said there were also 40 community radio stations in Sierra Leone, indicating that the commission had the cause to withdraw the licences of two radio stations established by two political parties as a result of unhealthy practices.
“They used their radio stations as weapons to abuse each other. Coming out of a civil war, we thought it wise to close the stations down so that they do not create chaos in the country,” she said, saying that one of the stations which did not take kindly to that took the commission to court.
Sierra Leone, she said, was establishing resource centres for access by journalists as part of efforts to help improve their work.
Mrs Cole said they were in Ghana to learn from the best practices of the Ghanaian media.
Mr Awal, for his part, said the GCGL was ready to offer support to Sierra Leone to enable it to develop and improve its print media.
He said one of the success stories of the GCGL was the training and the re-training of editors for management activities, and that once that was done they would be in a better position to improve the media organisation.
He, therefore, charged the delegation to adopt that strategy, adding that “we are ready to partner you in improving your newspaper sections”.
Mr Awal said the GCGL had seen major improvements over the last couple of years as a result of the able leadership and visionary direction of its management.
From one newspaper, he said, the company could boast a number of newspapers such as the Daily Graphic, The Mirror, Graphic Sports, Graphic Showbiz, Graphic Nsempa, Graphic Business and Junior Graphic.
The General Manager in charge of Newspapers of the GCGL, Mr Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh, said the issue of credibility was one of the factors that had made GCGL what it was today.
He said the GCGL was not aligned to any particular government and it criticised a government when it did what was not right, adding that “this is what is lacking in most countries”.
The Editor of the Daily Graphic, Mr Ransford Tetteh, said once a government was allowed to fund a media organisation, it would interfere in its activities.
The Daily Graphic in particular, he said, had been fair, accurate and balanced in its reportage, thereby making it a credible newspaper in the country.
8-10-09
A FOUR-MEMBER delegation of the Independent Media Commission of Sierra Leone is in the country to explore the possibility of partnering media organisations to develop Sierra Leone’s media industry.
This follows Sierra Leone’s emergence from a long period of protracted civil war.
Since its arrival, the delegation has visited a number of media organisations including the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL).
The delegation is led by Mrs Bernadette Cole, the Chairperson of the Independent Media Commission, and includes Mrs Casandra Davies, member; Mr Agustine Garmeh, member; and Mr Christo Johnson, member.
During a courtesy call on the Managing Director of the GCGL, Mr Ibrahim Awal, the leader of the delegation, Mrs Cole, said the commission was set up by an Act of Parliament in 2000 and established in 2001 with a membership of 11.
The objectives, she said, included improving the level of professionalism in the media through the provision of training, encourage media pluralism, receive and settle complaints, as well as issue licenses.
Currently, she said, licences had been given to 80 individuals to set up newspapers, and that out of the number only about 25 newspapers had been operating.
Mrs Cole said there were also 40 community radio stations in Sierra Leone, indicating that the commission had the cause to withdraw the licences of two radio stations established by two political parties as a result of unhealthy practices.
“They used their radio stations as weapons to abuse each other. Coming out of a civil war, we thought it wise to close the stations down so that they do not create chaos in the country,” she said, saying that one of the stations which did not take kindly to that took the commission to court.
Sierra Leone, she said, was establishing resource centres for access by journalists as part of efforts to help improve their work.
Mrs Cole said they were in Ghana to learn from the best practices of the Ghanaian media.
Mr Awal, for his part, said the GCGL was ready to offer support to Sierra Leone to enable it to develop and improve its print media.
He said one of the success stories of the GCGL was the training and the re-training of editors for management activities, and that once that was done they would be in a better position to improve the media organisation.
He, therefore, charged the delegation to adopt that strategy, adding that “we are ready to partner you in improving your newspaper sections”.
Mr Awal said the GCGL had seen major improvements over the last couple of years as a result of the able leadership and visionary direction of its management.
From one newspaper, he said, the company could boast a number of newspapers such as the Daily Graphic, The Mirror, Graphic Sports, Graphic Showbiz, Graphic Nsempa, Graphic Business and Junior Graphic.
The General Manager in charge of Newspapers of the GCGL, Mr Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh, said the issue of credibility was one of the factors that had made GCGL what it was today.
He said the GCGL was not aligned to any particular government and it criticised a government when it did what was not right, adding that “this is what is lacking in most countries”.
The Editor of the Daily Graphic, Mr Ransford Tetteh, said once a government was allowed to fund a media organisation, it would interfere in its activities.
The Daily Graphic in particular, he said, had been fair, accurate and balanced in its reportage, thereby making it a credible newspaper in the country.
SHS Placement: Parents relieved
Spread
8-10-09
A number of parents and their children who thronged the various senior high schools (SHSs) and technical institutes in the country yesterday expressed feelings of relief after checking the computer placement of candidates posted to the schools.
The placement results were displayed on the notice boards of the various schools and parents and heir children thronged the schools enquire about the admission requirements. The Ghana Education Service (GES) had earlier indicated that the placement results would get to the schools and be displayed yesterday, October 7, 2009.
The results displayed also had the total raw scores of the candidates placed in the schools for the perusal of both candidates and their parents.
The candidates were placed in the various schools according to the programmes they chose during the selection for placements.
Some of the schools visited by the Daily Graphic were St Mary’s SHS, Achimota School, Holy Trinity Cathedral SHS, Presbyterian SHS, Osu, Labone SHS, St Thomas Aquinas SHS and Accra Girls’ SHS.
Two parents — Vanessa Takyi-Mensah and Edith Mensah — who went to Presec, Osu, to check on their children’s placements were happy that “our children have been placed in their second-choice school”.
For Madam Takyi-Mensah, her problem was the short time within which to make full payment of her child’s fees, adding that “it is not possible to make full payment on or before October 14 when the placements results had been released only today, October 7”.
Madam Abbey said apart from checking the placements, she had also gone to the school to enquire about the payment of registration fees, among other things.
Yusif Anas, who went to check the placement of his niece at the Labone SHS, commended the education authorities for the computer selection, adding that it was fair.
He said although his niece had chosen Achimota School as her first choice, he understood why she was placed in her second choice of Labone SHS, adding that “she would have to accept it, since it is clear”.
An excited Maame Akua who had seen her name on the board at Labone SHS, said, “At least I have got my second choice with my 09.”
“I believe my last daughter who had 08 had strong raw scores and that is why she got her first choice of Accra Girls’ to do Business,” an elated Madam Ahorse told the Daily Graphic.
She said she did not understand why some people were saying that their children had been put in schools they had not chosen and suggested that the raw scores be printed on the BECE results slips so that people could have better a understanding of and appreciate the selection process.
Two other parents, Adjoa Ampomah and Elizabeth Tetteh, supported the idea, saying that it would help to calm the tension and anxiety associated with the placement system.
“We don’t have to wait till the raw scores get to the schools before we see them. They should be on the results slips so that we can do better comparisons,” Madam Ampomah said.
A closer look at the placement results showed that majority of the candidates who qualified for placement came from private basic schools.
For instance, out of the 90 students who were placed in the General Science programme at St Thomas Aquinas, 68 came from private schools, with the remainder coming from public schools.
It was also realised during the visit that the number of students requested for by the schools had been increased by the Ghana Education Service (GES) to cater for the number of candidates who qualified for placement into SHSs and technical institutes.
For instance, while Holy Trinity Cathedral SHS requested for 220 students, it was given 360, St Thomas Aquinas requested for 395 students and was given 506, while Labone SHS wanted 480 students but was given 530.
Although the heads of the schools said they would manage with the situation, they added that they would need more facilities, such as classrooms, tables and chairs for the excess number.
Out of the 395,647 candidates who wrote the 2009 BECE, 200,642 qualified for placement into SHSs and technical institutes. Heads of schools declared 198,000 vacancies.
To qualify for placement, a candidate has to get the minimum score of grade five in all the core subjects, namely, English, Mathematics, General Science and Social Studies, and any two best subjects. This should give a candidate a minimum of aggregate 30 to get placement.
However, if a candidate scores grade six in any or both best subjects, he or she should have a grade better than five in any of the core subjects to qualify for placement.
8-10-09
A number of parents and their children who thronged the various senior high schools (SHSs) and technical institutes in the country yesterday expressed feelings of relief after checking the computer placement of candidates posted to the schools.
The placement results were displayed on the notice boards of the various schools and parents and heir children thronged the schools enquire about the admission requirements. The Ghana Education Service (GES) had earlier indicated that the placement results would get to the schools and be displayed yesterday, October 7, 2009.
The results displayed also had the total raw scores of the candidates placed in the schools for the perusal of both candidates and their parents.
The candidates were placed in the various schools according to the programmes they chose during the selection for placements.
Some of the schools visited by the Daily Graphic were St Mary’s SHS, Achimota School, Holy Trinity Cathedral SHS, Presbyterian SHS, Osu, Labone SHS, St Thomas Aquinas SHS and Accra Girls’ SHS.
Two parents — Vanessa Takyi-Mensah and Edith Mensah — who went to Presec, Osu, to check on their children’s placements were happy that “our children have been placed in their second-choice school”.
For Madam Takyi-Mensah, her problem was the short time within which to make full payment of her child’s fees, adding that “it is not possible to make full payment on or before October 14 when the placements results had been released only today, October 7”.
Madam Abbey said apart from checking the placements, she had also gone to the school to enquire about the payment of registration fees, among other things.
Yusif Anas, who went to check the placement of his niece at the Labone SHS, commended the education authorities for the computer selection, adding that it was fair.
He said although his niece had chosen Achimota School as her first choice, he understood why she was placed in her second choice of Labone SHS, adding that “she would have to accept it, since it is clear”.
An excited Maame Akua who had seen her name on the board at Labone SHS, said, “At least I have got my second choice with my 09.”
“I believe my last daughter who had 08 had strong raw scores and that is why she got her first choice of Accra Girls’ to do Business,” an elated Madam Ahorse told the Daily Graphic.
She said she did not understand why some people were saying that their children had been put in schools they had not chosen and suggested that the raw scores be printed on the BECE results slips so that people could have better a understanding of and appreciate the selection process.
Two other parents, Adjoa Ampomah and Elizabeth Tetteh, supported the idea, saying that it would help to calm the tension and anxiety associated with the placement system.
“We don’t have to wait till the raw scores get to the schools before we see them. They should be on the results slips so that we can do better comparisons,” Madam Ampomah said.
A closer look at the placement results showed that majority of the candidates who qualified for placement came from private basic schools.
For instance, out of the 90 students who were placed in the General Science programme at St Thomas Aquinas, 68 came from private schools, with the remainder coming from public schools.
It was also realised during the visit that the number of students requested for by the schools had been increased by the Ghana Education Service (GES) to cater for the number of candidates who qualified for placement into SHSs and technical institutes.
For instance, while Holy Trinity Cathedral SHS requested for 220 students, it was given 360, St Thomas Aquinas requested for 395 students and was given 506, while Labone SHS wanted 480 students but was given 530.
Although the heads of the schools said they would manage with the situation, they added that they would need more facilities, such as classrooms, tables and chairs for the excess number.
Out of the 395,647 candidates who wrote the 2009 BECE, 200,642 qualified for placement into SHSs and technical institutes. Heads of schools declared 198,000 vacancies.
To qualify for placement, a candidate has to get the minimum score of grade five in all the core subjects, namely, English, Mathematics, General Science and Social Studies, and any two best subjects. This should give a candidate a minimum of aggregate 30 to get placement.
However, if a candidate scores grade six in any or both best subjects, he or she should have a grade better than five in any of the core subjects to qualify for placement.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Govt takes steps to address fuel problem
Front page
28-10-09
THE government has opened letters of credit and secured payment arrangements for the supply of crude oil to the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) in two weeks, a Deputy Minister of Energy, Dr Kwabena Donkor, has announced.
"We have opened the letters of credit and payment is guaranteed," he said.
Dr Donkor, who made this known at a press conference in Accra yesterday, said under the arrangement, the crude oil would be supplied to TOR through private sector players who were expected to buy from licensed crude oil dealers on the international market.
He said it was not only this year that the refinery had not imported crude but that the company had since September 2008 not imported crude.
He expressed the hope that once TOR took delivery of the first cargo of crude, the pressure on the other suppliers to bring in finished products would be reduced.
Over the past couple of months, TOR has been facing some serious challenges with respect to financial capacity and the procurement of crude oil.
Commenting on the issue of gasoline supply, Dr Donkor said the situation had improved tremendously and that over the weekend TOR and the Accra Plains Depot had to work overtime.
On Sunday, he said, they pumped 4.7 million litres of gasoline onto the market.
Earlier on Saturday, Dr Donkor said one million litres had been sent to the market, adding, “We have sent enough gasoline onto the market to meet demand.”
“We had a hiccup with the arrival of a vessel to bring the gasoline. A new vessel was brought in under emergency cargo which brought 4,000 metric tonnes of gasoline,” he emphasised, adding that he did not expect to have any problem.
Dr Donkor said it took a little time for tankers to get to other parts of the country and assured people in other parts of the country of supplies by the end of yesterday.
He noted that more than 10 oil marketing companies (OMCs) who owed TOR GH¢50 million would not get supplies until they regularised the payment of what they owed.
He said with regard to the TOR debt, the government wanted to do a comprehensive job to put the company in a better position to deliver.
Part of the measures taken, he said, was the appointment of transaction advisers, Ecobank Development Corporation and Ecobank Ghana Limited, to assist in restructuring the TOR debt.
He said the government inherited problems in the energy sector which it was investigating and that once it concluded investigations, it would come out with its findings.
Dr Donkor made mention of a $35 million contract given to an individual using two different companies to undertake a rural electrification programme, adding that the contract to undertake the project did not go through the right process.
On crude oil from Nigeria and Libya, he said the government was on course in getting the oil and that what people should understand was that government-to-government negotiations, even after they had been signed, had to be programmed.
“Every country producing crude oil has a programme. They know where the quantity they produce for each quarter goes. If they bring you on board, they then programme you for the next quarter,” he explained, adding that a technical team would be sent to Nigeria this week, as there were issues that bordered on the agreement.
Dr Donkor said what was left now was for the technical people to come up with the details.
In a related development, a 13-member delegation from Trinidad and Tobago is in the country to discuss ways through which that country can work with the government to develop the oil and gas industry.
Areas of co-operation they will deliberate on include technology transfer, application of modern technology, energy business development and investment in the energy sector.
Interacting with Dr Donkor in Accra on Monday, the Trinidad and Tobago High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mrs Victoria Charles Mendez Charles, said her country was not only interested in strengthening the relationship between the two countries but also assisting Ghana to develop the oil and gas sector with the discovery of oil in the country.
She said although Trinidad and Tobago had been successful in the oil and gas industry, it had not been all that smooth.
She said the delegation was in the country to sell to Ghana how Trinidad and Tobago was able to overcome the challenges and pitfalls it faced in the sector.
She said her country valued local content in the oil and gas industry, and that "this will be a key part of discussions with officials in Ghana, since local content is very important in building the sector”.
Dr Donkor, for his part, said the country was determined to make oil and gas a blessing and would do everything to ensure that wealth was created in the industry.
"We want to see oil and gas as a blessing and we are determined to make a difference," he said, adding that the government would create the platform that would catapult the country in the area of oil and gas.
Dr Donkor said the country wanted to learn and share experiences from Trinidad and Tobago.
The delegation will be in the country for about a week.
28-10-09
THE government has opened letters of credit and secured payment arrangements for the supply of crude oil to the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) in two weeks, a Deputy Minister of Energy, Dr Kwabena Donkor, has announced.
"We have opened the letters of credit and payment is guaranteed," he said.
Dr Donkor, who made this known at a press conference in Accra yesterday, said under the arrangement, the crude oil would be supplied to TOR through private sector players who were expected to buy from licensed crude oil dealers on the international market.
He said it was not only this year that the refinery had not imported crude but that the company had since September 2008 not imported crude.
He expressed the hope that once TOR took delivery of the first cargo of crude, the pressure on the other suppliers to bring in finished products would be reduced.
Over the past couple of months, TOR has been facing some serious challenges with respect to financial capacity and the procurement of crude oil.
Commenting on the issue of gasoline supply, Dr Donkor said the situation had improved tremendously and that over the weekend TOR and the Accra Plains Depot had to work overtime.
On Sunday, he said, they pumped 4.7 million litres of gasoline onto the market.
Earlier on Saturday, Dr Donkor said one million litres had been sent to the market, adding, “We have sent enough gasoline onto the market to meet demand.”
“We had a hiccup with the arrival of a vessel to bring the gasoline. A new vessel was brought in under emergency cargo which brought 4,000 metric tonnes of gasoline,” he emphasised, adding that he did not expect to have any problem.
Dr Donkor said it took a little time for tankers to get to other parts of the country and assured people in other parts of the country of supplies by the end of yesterday.
He noted that more than 10 oil marketing companies (OMCs) who owed TOR GH¢50 million would not get supplies until they regularised the payment of what they owed.
He said with regard to the TOR debt, the government wanted to do a comprehensive job to put the company in a better position to deliver.
Part of the measures taken, he said, was the appointment of transaction advisers, Ecobank Development Corporation and Ecobank Ghana Limited, to assist in restructuring the TOR debt.
He said the government inherited problems in the energy sector which it was investigating and that once it concluded investigations, it would come out with its findings.
Dr Donkor made mention of a $35 million contract given to an individual using two different companies to undertake a rural electrification programme, adding that the contract to undertake the project did not go through the right process.
On crude oil from Nigeria and Libya, he said the government was on course in getting the oil and that what people should understand was that government-to-government negotiations, even after they had been signed, had to be programmed.
“Every country producing crude oil has a programme. They know where the quantity they produce for each quarter goes. If they bring you on board, they then programme you for the next quarter,” he explained, adding that a technical team would be sent to Nigeria this week, as there were issues that bordered on the agreement.
Dr Donkor said what was left now was for the technical people to come up with the details.
In a related development, a 13-member delegation from Trinidad and Tobago is in the country to discuss ways through which that country can work with the government to develop the oil and gas industry.
Areas of co-operation they will deliberate on include technology transfer, application of modern technology, energy business development and investment in the energy sector.
Interacting with Dr Donkor in Accra on Monday, the Trinidad and Tobago High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mrs Victoria Charles Mendez Charles, said her country was not only interested in strengthening the relationship between the two countries but also assisting Ghana to develop the oil and gas sector with the discovery of oil in the country.
She said although Trinidad and Tobago had been successful in the oil and gas industry, it had not been all that smooth.
She said the delegation was in the country to sell to Ghana how Trinidad and Tobago was able to overcome the challenges and pitfalls it faced in the sector.
She said her country valued local content in the oil and gas industry, and that "this will be a key part of discussions with officials in Ghana, since local content is very important in building the sector”.
Dr Donkor, for his part, said the country was determined to make oil and gas a blessing and would do everything to ensure that wealth was created in the industry.
"We want to see oil and gas as a blessing and we are determined to make a difference," he said, adding that the government would create the platform that would catapult the country in the area of oil and gas.
Dr Donkor said the country wanted to learn and share experiences from Trinidad and Tobago.
The delegation will be in the country for about a week.
School heads warned -Against back-door admissions
Front Page Lead
01-10-09
THE Ministry of Education has issued a stern warning to parents and school heads to desist from seeking and offering senior high school (SHS) admissions outside the Computerised Schools Selection and Placement System (CSSPS).
The caution comes amidst rising anxiety among parents and their children over the fate of 200,642 eligible candidates for the 198,000 vacancies available in SHSs across the country.
Computerised selection of candidates who were successful in last April’s BECE was completed last week and the list is expected to be released to the various heads of schools on October 7.
Meanwhile, the annual ritual of frantic efforts by parents to secure places in prestige schools have begun in earnest, occasioning the warning from the ministry.
The Head of the Public Relations Unit of the Ministry of Education, Mr Paul Krampah, told the Daily Graphic that there would be strict monitoring after the placement exercise and that any head caught to have engaged in any admission outside the CSSPS would be sanctioned.
Reacting to the directive, the President of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS), Mr Samuel Ofori-Adjei, said heads were aware that they were not supposed to admit students outside the placement system.
“That information is known and nobody does that. If any head does that, then the person does so illegally,” he said, and reminded his colleague heads to adhere to the directive.
He said it was during the first and second years of the placement exercise that heads were allowed to replace students who had failed to report to the schools they had been placed in.
Mr Ofori-Adjei said under that dispensation, the heads were then asked, after picking students to fill the vacancies, to inform the Secondary Education Division of the GES for the regularisation of the stay of the students in their schools.
Mr Krampah said the CSSPS had seen improvement after the teething problems it had when it was introduced in 2005.
Presently, he said, the problem of a boy being sent to a girls’ school or a girl being sent to a boys’ school was a thing of the past and that the failure of candidates to chose the right codes in the selection of schools had accounted for that problem, among other things.
Mr Krampah expressed concern over the attitude of parents who wanted only popular and known schools for their children and indicated that there were schools such Adeiso Presbyterian Senior High, the St James Seminary, among other not-so-popular schools, which were performing very well.
He, therefore, urged parents to accept the schools their children had been placed in, stressing that candidates would forfeit the places given to them if they failed to report to the schools they had been posted to.
“Candidates should accept the schools they have been placed in, as there will be no change of school,” he said.
Expressing his fraustration, an angry parent, Mr Kweku Atta, who did not understand why his child was not placed in any of her six choices, questioned the wisdom in the CSSPS putting the child in a school in a district far away from where she attended school.
He explained that while his daughter had chosen schools in the Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam District, she was placed in a school in the Awutu-Senya District.
“How do they expect the child to go to school?” he asked.
“My son is a victim of the 2009 computer placement. I was invited to the school to select schools for him, with the assistance of the school authorities who took me through the form before the selection of the schools. The computer placement came out with a school but that was not his choice. It was also outside the region that was selected on his sheet,” another parent, Kukua Longdon, said in a letter to the Daily Graphic.
Yet another parent, Prof S.E. Anku, for his part, said the selection process was frustrating many candidates and their parents.
“Under what conditions would a student not get posted to his/her first choice school,when that student got aggregate six in the required six subjects and a surplus of four ones in the other four subjects? In short, that student got 10 ones! Why should a student like this not get the first choice school?” he asked.
But Mr Krampah said the placement had been done on merit, with the raw scores of candidates being used, explaining that obtaining Grade 1 in all subjects (or 10 ones) did not mean that a candidate should get his/her first choice school by all means.
Mr Krampah said every year the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) had a range for the grading system of candidates and that the Grade 1 range could be between 75 and 100 per cent or 70 and 100 per cent.
For instance, he said, in the placement exercise, a candidate with Grade 1 with a score of 80 per cent would be placed ahead of a candidate with Grade 1 with a score of 70 per cent.
Apart from the above, he said, candidates’ programmes were also considered in the selection process.
Mr Krampah assured parents and their children that qualified candidates would be placed, adding that placement reports were to get to the schools on October 7.
First-year students are supposed to report for school between October 12 and 15, 2009.
01-10-09
THE Ministry of Education has issued a stern warning to parents and school heads to desist from seeking and offering senior high school (SHS) admissions outside the Computerised Schools Selection and Placement System (CSSPS).
The caution comes amidst rising anxiety among parents and their children over the fate of 200,642 eligible candidates for the 198,000 vacancies available in SHSs across the country.
Computerised selection of candidates who were successful in last April’s BECE was completed last week and the list is expected to be released to the various heads of schools on October 7.
Meanwhile, the annual ritual of frantic efforts by parents to secure places in prestige schools have begun in earnest, occasioning the warning from the ministry.
The Head of the Public Relations Unit of the Ministry of Education, Mr Paul Krampah, told the Daily Graphic that there would be strict monitoring after the placement exercise and that any head caught to have engaged in any admission outside the CSSPS would be sanctioned.
Reacting to the directive, the President of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS), Mr Samuel Ofori-Adjei, said heads were aware that they were not supposed to admit students outside the placement system.
“That information is known and nobody does that. If any head does that, then the person does so illegally,” he said, and reminded his colleague heads to adhere to the directive.
He said it was during the first and second years of the placement exercise that heads were allowed to replace students who had failed to report to the schools they had been placed in.
Mr Ofori-Adjei said under that dispensation, the heads were then asked, after picking students to fill the vacancies, to inform the Secondary Education Division of the GES for the regularisation of the stay of the students in their schools.
Mr Krampah said the CSSPS had seen improvement after the teething problems it had when it was introduced in 2005.
Presently, he said, the problem of a boy being sent to a girls’ school or a girl being sent to a boys’ school was a thing of the past and that the failure of candidates to chose the right codes in the selection of schools had accounted for that problem, among other things.
Mr Krampah expressed concern over the attitude of parents who wanted only popular and known schools for their children and indicated that there were schools such Adeiso Presbyterian Senior High, the St James Seminary, among other not-so-popular schools, which were performing very well.
He, therefore, urged parents to accept the schools their children had been placed in, stressing that candidates would forfeit the places given to them if they failed to report to the schools they had been posted to.
“Candidates should accept the schools they have been placed in, as there will be no change of school,” he said.
Expressing his fraustration, an angry parent, Mr Kweku Atta, who did not understand why his child was not placed in any of her six choices, questioned the wisdom in the CSSPS putting the child in a school in a district far away from where she attended school.
He explained that while his daughter had chosen schools in the Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam District, she was placed in a school in the Awutu-Senya District.
“How do they expect the child to go to school?” he asked.
“My son is a victim of the 2009 computer placement. I was invited to the school to select schools for him, with the assistance of the school authorities who took me through the form before the selection of the schools. The computer placement came out with a school but that was not his choice. It was also outside the region that was selected on his sheet,” another parent, Kukua Longdon, said in a letter to the Daily Graphic.
Yet another parent, Prof S.E. Anku, for his part, said the selection process was frustrating many candidates and their parents.
“Under what conditions would a student not get posted to his/her first choice school,when that student got aggregate six in the required six subjects and a surplus of four ones in the other four subjects? In short, that student got 10 ones! Why should a student like this not get the first choice school?” he asked.
But Mr Krampah said the placement had been done on merit, with the raw scores of candidates being used, explaining that obtaining Grade 1 in all subjects (or 10 ones) did not mean that a candidate should get his/her first choice school by all means.
Mr Krampah said every year the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) had a range for the grading system of candidates and that the Grade 1 range could be between 75 and 100 per cent or 70 and 100 per cent.
For instance, he said, in the placement exercise, a candidate with Grade 1 with a score of 80 per cent would be placed ahead of a candidate with Grade 1 with a score of 70 per cent.
Apart from the above, he said, candidates’ programmes were also considered in the selection process.
Mr Krampah assured parents and their children that qualified candidates would be placed, adding that placement reports were to get to the schools on October 7.
First-year students are supposed to report for school between October 12 and 15, 2009.
Adopt best teaching methods -Tettey-Enyo
Spread
3-10-09
THE Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, has called on teachers to adopt teaching methods that will ensure that time spent in the classroom is not wasted.
He said teachers should be imaginative, productive and resourceful in order to ensure efficient and effective education delivery.
Mr Tettey-Enyo made the call when the Ministry of Education took delivery of various items donated by eight companies towards this year’s National Best Teachers’ Awards Day slated for Ho on Monday, October 5, 2009.
The companies are Parry & Co. Limited, which donated some of its products, worth GH¢ 5,000; EPP Books Limited, valued at GH¢ 10,000 and GH¢ 5,000 cash and Omega Comput Systems, a set of desktop computer and accessories worth GH¢ 1,500.
The others are Prudential Bank, GH¢ 3,000; Agriculture Development Bank (ADB) GH¢2,500 and the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Ghana Limited, GH¢ 2,600; Indomie and Voltic donated some of their products towards the event.
Mr Tettey-Enyo said the government recognised the contributions of teachers, and “this is the reason why the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Government instituted the best teacher awards in 1995 to motivate teachers to give their best”.
The government, he said, would continue to introduce motivational packages for teachers, and urged corporate organisations to support such initiatives.
“Education is the key to development. It ensures the development of the individual, the community and the country at large,” he said.
A representative of Parry & Co., Mr Roger Aikins, pledged the company’s continued support towards the programme, especially having been part of the programme for the past two years.
Mr Jibrin Adam, representative of EPP Books Limited, said the company started supporting the awards day since it was instituted in 1995 and would continue its sponsorship support.
The representative of Omega Comput System, Mr John Walker, said the company was happy to be part of the organisations supporting the awards.
3-10-09
THE Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, has called on teachers to adopt teaching methods that will ensure that time spent in the classroom is not wasted.
He said teachers should be imaginative, productive and resourceful in order to ensure efficient and effective education delivery.
Mr Tettey-Enyo made the call when the Ministry of Education took delivery of various items donated by eight companies towards this year’s National Best Teachers’ Awards Day slated for Ho on Monday, October 5, 2009.
The companies are Parry & Co. Limited, which donated some of its products, worth GH¢ 5,000; EPP Books Limited, valued at GH¢ 10,000 and GH¢ 5,000 cash and Omega Comput Systems, a set of desktop computer and accessories worth GH¢ 1,500.
The others are Prudential Bank, GH¢ 3,000; Agriculture Development Bank (ADB) GH¢2,500 and the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Ghana Limited, GH¢ 2,600; Indomie and Voltic donated some of their products towards the event.
Mr Tettey-Enyo said the government recognised the contributions of teachers, and “this is the reason why the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Government instituted the best teacher awards in 1995 to motivate teachers to give their best”.
The government, he said, would continue to introduce motivational packages for teachers, and urged corporate organisations to support such initiatives.
“Education is the key to development. It ensures the development of the individual, the community and the country at large,” he said.
A representative of Parry & Co., Mr Roger Aikins, pledged the company’s continued support towards the programme, especially having been part of the programme for the past two years.
Mr Jibrin Adam, representative of EPP Books Limited, said the company started supporting the awards day since it was instituted in 1995 and would continue its sponsorship support.
The representative of Omega Comput System, Mr John Walker, said the company was happy to be part of the organisations supporting the awards.
No Deals in BECE Placements -Software Designer
Front Page Lead
5-10-09
THE company which designed the software for the Computerised Schools Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) has defended the electronic mode of selection, saying it cannot be manipulated for any underhand dealings in the placement of candidates.
Reacting to the stampede in many senior high schools (SHSs) for admission and the anxiety among parents whose children did not get their first choice schools under the (CSSPS), the programme designers said the placement exercise was transparent and that candidates were placed on merit according to the programmes and vacancies available in schools.
There is intense uneasiness among students and parents as this year’s placement reports are expected to get to the senior high schools by Tuesday, October 7.
And to calm nerves, Dr Harriet Somuah, the Chief Executive of Somuah Information Systems Company (SISCO) Limited, which designed the programme, told the Daily Graphic that one of the policies that guided the placement was the raw scores, not the grades or aggregates of candidates.
According to her, the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) served two purposes — the award of certificates and placement into SHSs.
She said for the award of certificates, the grades and aggregates obtained by candidates at the BECE were used, while, with respect to the placement of candidates, the grades and aggregates obtained did not give enough detail and so the modified raw scores were used.
“When we say modified raw scores, we mean the scores of a candidate in the BECE plus his/her continuous assessment marks,” she explained, adding that schools that failed to provide continuous assessment records of candidates created problems for their students.
Dr Somuah explained further that the range of marks that made up a grade differed from one year to another and from one subject to another.
Giving a scenario to explain the point, she said in one particular year, for instance, a candidate, Ama, could score English 65 (Grade 1), Social Studies 70 (Grade 1), Mathematics 63 (Grade 1), Science 64 (Grade 1), Pre-Tech 70 (Grade 1) and Ga 70 (Grade 1).
Another candidate, Adjoa, could also have English 83 (Grade 1), Social Studies 90 (Grade 1), Mathematics 81 (Grade 1), Science 88 (Grade 1), French 88 (Grade 2) and Religious and Moral Education 81 (Grade 2).
Dr Somuah said from the scenario created, although Ama had Grade 1 in all subjects, Adjoa would be placed above her because Adjoa’s total raw scores of 511 was higher than Ama’s 402.
“Placement does not understand grades or aggregates; it deals clearly with raw scores because there are big differences between the grades and aggregates,” she explained.
She cited another instance when a candidate who obtained English, Grade 1; Social Studies, Grade 2; Religious and Moral Education, Grade 1; Mathematics, Grade 4; Science, Grade 1; Agriculture Science, Grade 2; Pre-Technical Skills, Grade 1; French, Grade 1; Ghanaian Language, Grade 2, and Catering, Grade 4. Under the BECE, the aggregate for the best six subjects would be 07.
But under the CSSPS criteria for placement, the aggregate would be 10 because the four core subjects, English (1), Mathematics (4), Science (1) and Social Studies (2), as well as two other best subjects — French (1) and Religious and Moral Education (1) — added up to 10.
“The computer does not know anybody and candidates are placed on merit,” she maintained, adding, “If your child did not get a particular school it means other children did better than your child when you look at their raw scores.”
Dr Somuah, however, agreed with suggestions that placing the raw scores on the results slips of candidates, along side the grades, would help explain things better to both parents and candidates and address their anxieties.
The raw scores are sent to the SHSs and the junior high schools of candidates.
She noted that programmes offered by schools were also used in the selection process, saying that a candidate with not so high raw scores but who chose to offer Visual Arts or Home Economics in a top school could get placed in that school ahead of a candidate who might have similar raw scores but who chose to do Science or Business in that school as a result of the competitive nature of those programmes.
“Even if two candidates have the same raw scores and chose the same school, one may get the school while the other may not because of the programmes they chose to offer,” she further explained
She, however, indicated that a candidate who did not get his/her first choice school could displace other candidates in his/her second choice school because his/her raw marks might be higher than those candidates, irrespective of the fact they might have selected that school as their first choice.
Dr Somuah said another policy used in the placement exercise was the scaling up factor meant for schools in deprived areas.
Under the policy, she said, deprived schools, based on their level of depravity, “have their scores increased by a certain percentage so that they can compete favourably with those from well-endowed schools”.
She said students were placed in schools they themselves chose, explaining that with this year’s first batch of placement, nobody was placed in a school he/she did not choose.
She said some students also picked the wrong codes of schools, resulting in their being posted to schools other than those they opted for.
“I can understand the frustrations of the candidates. They must, however, know that those placed above them did better than they,” she emphasised.
She said the CSSPS was better than the manual system, as children who could not have otherwise gained admission to certain popular schools were now in those schools.
“I hear some parents even went to PRESEC, Legon, to dance in front of the gate, saying that they too were going to have their children in that school,” she said.
Dr Somuah underscored the need for more education on the CSSPS to enable parents, teachers and students to understand it better.
Meanwhile, some parents whose children did not get their first choice schools have expressed their displeasure at the way the placement exercise was carried out.
They said although their children performed well and were more than qualified, they did not get the schools of their choice.
They, therefore, called on the Ghana Education Service (GES) to review the system, since it was creating so much tension and psychological trauma in many homes.
Anita Adjei, a parent whose daughter had nine grade ones, with a grade two in Twi, did not understand why her daughter did not get her first and second choice schools of Wesley Girls’ High School and Mfantsiman Girls’ High School but was rather sent to Chemu Senior High School.
For his part, Mr K.A. Debrah said although his child had grade one in all her subjects, she could not be selected for admission to Wesley Girls’, which was her first choice, to pursue a science programme.
“I don’t understand how this system works,” he said.
Another parent with a similar problem, Madam Stephanie Mensah, said her daughter could not get Holy Child School with her 10 grade ones and questioned what went into the selection process, stressing the need for the current system to be reviewed.
One parent, Mr Kweku Atta, was very angry because his child was not placed in any of her six chosen schools and questioned the wisdom in the CSSPS for putting the child in a school far away from where she attended JHS.
He explained that while his daughter had chosen schools in the Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam District, she was placed in a school in the Awutu-Senya District.
“How do they expect the child to go to school?” he asked.
Earlier, the Head of Public Relations of the Ministry of Education, Mr Paul Krampah, had explained to the Daily Graphic that the placement had been done on merit based on the raw scores of candidates.
He explained that obtaining grade one in all subjects (or 10 ones) did not mean that a candidate should get his/her first choice school at all cost.
Mr Krampah said every year the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) had a range for the grading system of candidates and that the grade one range could be between 75 and 100 per cent or 70 and 100 per cent.
For instance, he said, in the placement exercise, a candidate who had grade one with a raw score of 80 per cent would be placed ahead of a candidate who had grade one with a score of 70 per cent. The same, he said, applied to the other grades.
Apart from that, he said, candidates’ programmes were also considered in the selection process.
5-10-09
THE company which designed the software for the Computerised Schools Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) has defended the electronic mode of selection, saying it cannot be manipulated for any underhand dealings in the placement of candidates.
Reacting to the stampede in many senior high schools (SHSs) for admission and the anxiety among parents whose children did not get their first choice schools under the (CSSPS), the programme designers said the placement exercise was transparent and that candidates were placed on merit according to the programmes and vacancies available in schools.
There is intense uneasiness among students and parents as this year’s placement reports are expected to get to the senior high schools by Tuesday, October 7.
And to calm nerves, Dr Harriet Somuah, the Chief Executive of Somuah Information Systems Company (SISCO) Limited, which designed the programme, told the Daily Graphic that one of the policies that guided the placement was the raw scores, not the grades or aggregates of candidates.
According to her, the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) served two purposes — the award of certificates and placement into SHSs.
She said for the award of certificates, the grades and aggregates obtained by candidates at the BECE were used, while, with respect to the placement of candidates, the grades and aggregates obtained did not give enough detail and so the modified raw scores were used.
“When we say modified raw scores, we mean the scores of a candidate in the BECE plus his/her continuous assessment marks,” she explained, adding that schools that failed to provide continuous assessment records of candidates created problems for their students.
Dr Somuah explained further that the range of marks that made up a grade differed from one year to another and from one subject to another.
Giving a scenario to explain the point, she said in one particular year, for instance, a candidate, Ama, could score English 65 (Grade 1), Social Studies 70 (Grade 1), Mathematics 63 (Grade 1), Science 64 (Grade 1), Pre-Tech 70 (Grade 1) and Ga 70 (Grade 1).
Another candidate, Adjoa, could also have English 83 (Grade 1), Social Studies 90 (Grade 1), Mathematics 81 (Grade 1), Science 88 (Grade 1), French 88 (Grade 2) and Religious and Moral Education 81 (Grade 2).
Dr Somuah said from the scenario created, although Ama had Grade 1 in all subjects, Adjoa would be placed above her because Adjoa’s total raw scores of 511 was higher than Ama’s 402.
“Placement does not understand grades or aggregates; it deals clearly with raw scores because there are big differences between the grades and aggregates,” she explained.
She cited another instance when a candidate who obtained English, Grade 1; Social Studies, Grade 2; Religious and Moral Education, Grade 1; Mathematics, Grade 4; Science, Grade 1; Agriculture Science, Grade 2; Pre-Technical Skills, Grade 1; French, Grade 1; Ghanaian Language, Grade 2, and Catering, Grade 4. Under the BECE, the aggregate for the best six subjects would be 07.
But under the CSSPS criteria for placement, the aggregate would be 10 because the four core subjects, English (1), Mathematics (4), Science (1) and Social Studies (2), as well as two other best subjects — French (1) and Religious and Moral Education (1) — added up to 10.
“The computer does not know anybody and candidates are placed on merit,” she maintained, adding, “If your child did not get a particular school it means other children did better than your child when you look at their raw scores.”
Dr Somuah, however, agreed with suggestions that placing the raw scores on the results slips of candidates, along side the grades, would help explain things better to both parents and candidates and address their anxieties.
The raw scores are sent to the SHSs and the junior high schools of candidates.
She noted that programmes offered by schools were also used in the selection process, saying that a candidate with not so high raw scores but who chose to offer Visual Arts or Home Economics in a top school could get placed in that school ahead of a candidate who might have similar raw scores but who chose to do Science or Business in that school as a result of the competitive nature of those programmes.
“Even if two candidates have the same raw scores and chose the same school, one may get the school while the other may not because of the programmes they chose to offer,” she further explained
She, however, indicated that a candidate who did not get his/her first choice school could displace other candidates in his/her second choice school because his/her raw marks might be higher than those candidates, irrespective of the fact they might have selected that school as their first choice.
Dr Somuah said another policy used in the placement exercise was the scaling up factor meant for schools in deprived areas.
Under the policy, she said, deprived schools, based on their level of depravity, “have their scores increased by a certain percentage so that they can compete favourably with those from well-endowed schools”.
She said students were placed in schools they themselves chose, explaining that with this year’s first batch of placement, nobody was placed in a school he/she did not choose.
She said some students also picked the wrong codes of schools, resulting in their being posted to schools other than those they opted for.
“I can understand the frustrations of the candidates. They must, however, know that those placed above them did better than they,” she emphasised.
She said the CSSPS was better than the manual system, as children who could not have otherwise gained admission to certain popular schools were now in those schools.
“I hear some parents even went to PRESEC, Legon, to dance in front of the gate, saying that they too were going to have their children in that school,” she said.
Dr Somuah underscored the need for more education on the CSSPS to enable parents, teachers and students to understand it better.
Meanwhile, some parents whose children did not get their first choice schools have expressed their displeasure at the way the placement exercise was carried out.
They said although their children performed well and were more than qualified, they did not get the schools of their choice.
They, therefore, called on the Ghana Education Service (GES) to review the system, since it was creating so much tension and psychological trauma in many homes.
Anita Adjei, a parent whose daughter had nine grade ones, with a grade two in Twi, did not understand why her daughter did not get her first and second choice schools of Wesley Girls’ High School and Mfantsiman Girls’ High School but was rather sent to Chemu Senior High School.
For his part, Mr K.A. Debrah said although his child had grade one in all her subjects, she could not be selected for admission to Wesley Girls’, which was her first choice, to pursue a science programme.
“I don’t understand how this system works,” he said.
Another parent with a similar problem, Madam Stephanie Mensah, said her daughter could not get Holy Child School with her 10 grade ones and questioned what went into the selection process, stressing the need for the current system to be reviewed.
One parent, Mr Kweku Atta, was very angry because his child was not placed in any of her six chosen schools and questioned the wisdom in the CSSPS for putting the child in a school far away from where she attended JHS.
He explained that while his daughter had chosen schools in the Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam District, she was placed in a school in the Awutu-Senya District.
“How do they expect the child to go to school?” he asked.
Earlier, the Head of Public Relations of the Ministry of Education, Mr Paul Krampah, had explained to the Daily Graphic that the placement had been done on merit based on the raw scores of candidates.
He explained that obtaining grade one in all subjects (or 10 ones) did not mean that a candidate should get his/her first choice school at all cost.
Mr Krampah said every year the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) had a range for the grading system of candidates and that the grade one range could be between 75 and 100 per cent or 70 and 100 per cent.
For instance, he said, in the placement exercise, a candidate who had grade one with a raw score of 80 per cent would be placed ahead of a candidate who had grade one with a score of 70 per cent. The same, he said, applied to the other grades.
Apart from that, he said, candidates’ programmes were also considered in the selection process.
Media must be partners in governance-Veep
Spread
6-10-09
THE Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, has urged media practitioners to help remove the perception that the media must always assume the role of opponent to the government.
“Africans must learn that the media are partners in governance and not opponents. This will allow for the provision of appropriate legislation that will create the space for freedom of expression and proper training of journalists,” he said.
The Vice-President said this in an address read on his behalf by Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, a Deputy Minister of Information, at the opening of the Africa Media Leadership Conference in Accra yesterday.
According to him, the media should desist from being “agents of conflicts, retrogression and destruction”.
The three-day programme, which is on the theme, “Learning from the future: Africa’s media map in 2029”, is being attended by media owners and representatives from across the continent and the world.
Mr Mahama said the government of Ghana would continue to create an enabling environment where journalists could report freely, critically and responsibly to support the goals of democracy, economic development and human rights.
He said the “standard of journalism can further be enhanced through training, educational seminars and conferences which governments in Africa should encourage and support”.
The present generation, he said, was faced with innumerable challenges, including HIV/AIDS, climate change, natural disasters, drug abuse, money laundering, corruption, political intolerance, election malpractice and ICT fraud.
Mr Mahama said it was against that backdrop that the media, journalists, publishers and media owners had a very crucial role to play in assisting society to face those challenges successfully.
“I want to charge you, as media leaders, to leave the beaten track and your comfort zones and rather seek out new maps, new routes and new destination,” he said, adding that the media were an integral part of modern democratic governance.
The Director of Rhodes University’s Sol Plaatje Institute for Media Leadership, Mr Francis Mdlongwa, said, “Our long established newspapers, radio and television stations are all facing a new struggle for survival in the emerging digital media platforms that are proliferating every day.”
Those new channels, he said, such as Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, Twitter and mobile phones, were taking away large numbers of customers.
“People we used to call listeners, viewers and readers are today increasingly agitating for and are able to be the providers of their own specific news content which they are consuming at their chosen time and place and using their own preferred media platforms,” he said, adding that today’s media audiences were not just producing, selecting and customising their news and information content but also re-defining the role, identity and purpose of journalism and media companies.
The Head of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung’s Sub-Saharan Africa Media Programme, Mr Frank Windeck, said the traditional media dominated the conference when it started.
That, he said, was rapidly changing, as Internet entrepreneurs and bloggers were getting on board, adding, “To prepare the African media for the future, we need to create more networks between the traditional and the modern.”
6-10-09
THE Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, has urged media practitioners to help remove the perception that the media must always assume the role of opponent to the government.
“Africans must learn that the media are partners in governance and not opponents. This will allow for the provision of appropriate legislation that will create the space for freedom of expression and proper training of journalists,” he said.
The Vice-President said this in an address read on his behalf by Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, a Deputy Minister of Information, at the opening of the Africa Media Leadership Conference in Accra yesterday.
According to him, the media should desist from being “agents of conflicts, retrogression and destruction”.
The three-day programme, which is on the theme, “Learning from the future: Africa’s media map in 2029”, is being attended by media owners and representatives from across the continent and the world.
Mr Mahama said the government of Ghana would continue to create an enabling environment where journalists could report freely, critically and responsibly to support the goals of democracy, economic development and human rights.
He said the “standard of journalism can further be enhanced through training, educational seminars and conferences which governments in Africa should encourage and support”.
The present generation, he said, was faced with innumerable challenges, including HIV/AIDS, climate change, natural disasters, drug abuse, money laundering, corruption, political intolerance, election malpractice and ICT fraud.
Mr Mahama said it was against that backdrop that the media, journalists, publishers and media owners had a very crucial role to play in assisting society to face those challenges successfully.
“I want to charge you, as media leaders, to leave the beaten track and your comfort zones and rather seek out new maps, new routes and new destination,” he said, adding that the media were an integral part of modern democratic governance.
The Director of Rhodes University’s Sol Plaatje Institute for Media Leadership, Mr Francis Mdlongwa, said, “Our long established newspapers, radio and television stations are all facing a new struggle for survival in the emerging digital media platforms that are proliferating every day.”
Those new channels, he said, such as Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, Twitter and mobile phones, were taking away large numbers of customers.
“People we used to call listeners, viewers and readers are today increasingly agitating for and are able to be the providers of their own specific news content which they are consuming at their chosen time and place and using their own preferred media platforms,” he said, adding that today’s media audiences were not just producing, selecting and customising their news and information content but also re-defining the role, identity and purpose of journalism and media companies.
The Head of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung’s Sub-Saharan Africa Media Programme, Mr Frank Windeck, said the traditional media dominated the conference when it started.
That, he said, was rapidly changing, as Internet entrepreneurs and bloggers were getting on board, adding, “To prepare the African media for the future, we need to create more networks between the traditional and the modern.”
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Need for public-private partnership in health care
26-09-09
THE Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Elias Sory, has called for an effective public-private partnership in the delivery of health care in the country.
That, he said, was to complement the government’s efforts in health care.
Dr Sory made the call when he inaugurated a health facility at New Bortianor, off the Malam-Kasoa road.
The facility, Finney Hospital and Fertility Centre, provides medical services in general surgery, general medicine, radiology, dental services, obstetrics and gynaecology and assisted reproduction technology, including invitro fertilisation.
The 55-bed facility has two theatres, four consulting rooms, seven executive rooms, 14 double-bed rooms, a twin double room, a nursery, a pharmacy and a state-of-the-art embryology laboratory, among other facilities.
Dr Sory, who represented the Vice President, Mr John Mahama, said the provision of health care was very important to the citizenry, thus the need for the private sector to provide support in the provision of health care facilities to cater for the needs of the population.
He emphasised the need for quality health care, saying that “every life counts”.
Dr Sory who commended the owners of the hospital for providing such a facility, stressed the need for the staff to follow the standards and guidelines of the Ministry of Health in their operations.
“We want people to invest in the health sector. We should not wait for government to put up facilities,” he said.
He urged private health care providers to move into the areas of specialised health service to ease the pressure on government’s facilities.
The Executive Director and Co-Founder of the hospital, Mr Francis Owusu, said the facilities were put up in the area based on the frequency of accidents on the Accra-Cape Coast road.
He said there were future plans for expansion, and urged the government to grant tax exemption on the importation of health equipment.
Another co-founder of the hospital, Mrs Mary Owusu, said the aim of the owners was to provide first class independent health care for people in and outside the community.
The Clinical Director of the hospital, Mr Ellis Fleischer-Djoleto, said the services at the facility were quite affordable and urged Ghanaians to take advantage of the facility.
A former Director General of the GHS, Prof. Agyeman Badu-Akosa, who chaired the function, said the facility would help relieve the burden of overstretched hospitals and clinics in Accra.
He congratulated the management of the hospital, and indicated that it was strategically located.
THE Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Elias Sory, has called for an effective public-private partnership in the delivery of health care in the country.
That, he said, was to complement the government’s efforts in health care.
Dr Sory made the call when he inaugurated a health facility at New Bortianor, off the Malam-Kasoa road.
The facility, Finney Hospital and Fertility Centre, provides medical services in general surgery, general medicine, radiology, dental services, obstetrics and gynaecology and assisted reproduction technology, including invitro fertilisation.
The 55-bed facility has two theatres, four consulting rooms, seven executive rooms, 14 double-bed rooms, a twin double room, a nursery, a pharmacy and a state-of-the-art embryology laboratory, among other facilities.
Dr Sory, who represented the Vice President, Mr John Mahama, said the provision of health care was very important to the citizenry, thus the need for the private sector to provide support in the provision of health care facilities to cater for the needs of the population.
He emphasised the need for quality health care, saying that “every life counts”.
Dr Sory who commended the owners of the hospital for providing such a facility, stressed the need for the staff to follow the standards and guidelines of the Ministry of Health in their operations.
“We want people to invest in the health sector. We should not wait for government to put up facilities,” he said.
He urged private health care providers to move into the areas of specialised health service to ease the pressure on government’s facilities.
The Executive Director and Co-Founder of the hospital, Mr Francis Owusu, said the facilities were put up in the area based on the frequency of accidents on the Accra-Cape Coast road.
He said there were future plans for expansion, and urged the government to grant tax exemption on the importation of health equipment.
Another co-founder of the hospital, Mrs Mary Owusu, said the aim of the owners was to provide first class independent health care for people in and outside the community.
The Clinical Director of the hospital, Mr Ellis Fleischer-Djoleto, said the services at the facility were quite affordable and urged Ghanaians to take advantage of the facility.
A former Director General of the GHS, Prof. Agyeman Badu-Akosa, who chaired the function, said the facility would help relieve the burden of overstretched hospitals and clinics in Accra.
He congratulated the management of the hospital, and indicated that it was strategically located.
Govt takes measures to address fuel shortage
Front Page
29-09-09
THE government has opened letters of credit and secured payment arrangements for the supply of crude oil to the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) in two weeks, a Deputy Minister of Energy, Dr Kwabena Donkor, has announced.
"We have opened the letters of credit and payment is guaranteed," he said.
Dr Donkor, who made this known at a press conference in Accra yesterday, said under the arrangement, the crude oil would be supplied to TOR through private sector players who were expected to buy from licensed crude oil dealers on the international market.
He said it was not only this year that the refinery had not imported crude but that the company had since September 2008 not imported crude.
He expressed the hope that once TOR took delivery of the first cargo of crude, the pressure on the other suppliers to bring in finished products would be reduced.
Over the past couple of months, TOR has been facing some serious challenges with respect to financial capacity and the procurement of crude oil.
Commenting on the issue of gasoline supply, Dr Donkor said the situation had improved tremendously and that over the weekend TOR and the Accra Plains Depot had to work overtime.
On Sunday, he said, they pumped 4.7 million litres of gasoline onto the market.
Earlier on Saturday, Dr Donkor said one million litres had been sent to the market, adding, “We have sent enough gasoline onto the market to meet demand.”
“We had a hiccup with the arrival of a vessel to bring the gasoline. A new vessel was brought in under emergency cargo which brought 4,000 metric tonnes of gasoline,” he emphasised, adding that he did not expect to have any problem.
Dr Donkor said it took a little time for tankers to get to other parts of the country and assured people in other parts of the country of supplies by the end of yesterday.
He noted that more than 10 oil marketing companies (OMCs) who owed TOR GH¢50 million would not get supplies until they regularised the payment of what they owed.
He said with regard to the TOR debt, the government wanted to do a comprehensive job to put the company in a better position to deliver.
Part of the measures taken, he said, was the appointment of transaction advisers, Ecobank Development Corporation and Ecobank Ghana Limited, to assist in restructuring the TOR debt.
He said the government inherited problems in the energy sector which it was investigating and that once it concluded investigations, it would come out with its findings.
Dr Donkor made mention of a $35 million contract given to an individual using two different companies to undertake a rural electrification programme, adding that the contract to undertake the project did not go through the right process.
On crude oil from Nigeria and Libya, he said the government was on course in getting the oil and that what people should understand was that government-to-government negotiations, even after they had been signed, had to be programmed.
“Every country producing crude oil has a programme. They know where the quantity they produce for each quarter goes. If they bring you on board, they then programme you for the next quarter,” he explained, adding that a technical team would be sent to Nigeria this week, as there were issues that bordered on the agreement.
Dr Donkor said what was left now was for the technical people to come up with the details.
In a related development, a 13-member delegation from Trinidad and Tobago is in the country to discuss ways through which that country can work with the government to develop the oil and gas industry.
Areas of co-operation they will deliberate on include technology transfer, application of modern technology, energy business development and investment in the energy sector.
Interacting with Dr Donkor in Accra on Monday, the Trinidad and Tobago High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mrs Victoria Charles Mendez Charles, said her country was not only interested in strengthening the relationship between the two countries but also assisting Ghana to develop the oil and gas sector with the discovery of oil in the country.
She said although Trinidad and Tobago had been successful in the oil and gas industry, it had not been all that smooth.
She said the delegation was in the country to sell to Ghana how Trinidad and Tobago was able to overcome the challenges and pitfalls it faced in the sector.
She said her country valued local content in the oil and gas industry, and that "this will be a key part of discussions with officials in Ghana, since local content is very important in building the sector”.
Dr Donkor, for his part, said the country was determined to make oil and gas a blessing and would do everything to ensure that wealth was created in the industry.
"We want to see oil and gas as a blessing and we are determined to make a difference," he said, adding that the government would create the platform that would catapult the country in the area of oil and gas.
Dr Donkor said the country wanted to learn and share experiences from Trinidad and Tobago.
The delegation will be in the country for about a week.
29-09-09
THE government has opened letters of credit and secured payment arrangements for the supply of crude oil to the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) in two weeks, a Deputy Minister of Energy, Dr Kwabena Donkor, has announced.
"We have opened the letters of credit and payment is guaranteed," he said.
Dr Donkor, who made this known at a press conference in Accra yesterday, said under the arrangement, the crude oil would be supplied to TOR through private sector players who were expected to buy from licensed crude oil dealers on the international market.
He said it was not only this year that the refinery had not imported crude but that the company had since September 2008 not imported crude.
He expressed the hope that once TOR took delivery of the first cargo of crude, the pressure on the other suppliers to bring in finished products would be reduced.
Over the past couple of months, TOR has been facing some serious challenges with respect to financial capacity and the procurement of crude oil.
Commenting on the issue of gasoline supply, Dr Donkor said the situation had improved tremendously and that over the weekend TOR and the Accra Plains Depot had to work overtime.
On Sunday, he said, they pumped 4.7 million litres of gasoline onto the market.
Earlier on Saturday, Dr Donkor said one million litres had been sent to the market, adding, “We have sent enough gasoline onto the market to meet demand.”
“We had a hiccup with the arrival of a vessel to bring the gasoline. A new vessel was brought in under emergency cargo which brought 4,000 metric tonnes of gasoline,” he emphasised, adding that he did not expect to have any problem.
Dr Donkor said it took a little time for tankers to get to other parts of the country and assured people in other parts of the country of supplies by the end of yesterday.
He noted that more than 10 oil marketing companies (OMCs) who owed TOR GH¢50 million would not get supplies until they regularised the payment of what they owed.
He said with regard to the TOR debt, the government wanted to do a comprehensive job to put the company in a better position to deliver.
Part of the measures taken, he said, was the appointment of transaction advisers, Ecobank Development Corporation and Ecobank Ghana Limited, to assist in restructuring the TOR debt.
He said the government inherited problems in the energy sector which it was investigating and that once it concluded investigations, it would come out with its findings.
Dr Donkor made mention of a $35 million contract given to an individual using two different companies to undertake a rural electrification programme, adding that the contract to undertake the project did not go through the right process.
On crude oil from Nigeria and Libya, he said the government was on course in getting the oil and that what people should understand was that government-to-government negotiations, even after they had been signed, had to be programmed.
“Every country producing crude oil has a programme. They know where the quantity they produce for each quarter goes. If they bring you on board, they then programme you for the next quarter,” he explained, adding that a technical team would be sent to Nigeria this week, as there were issues that bordered on the agreement.
Dr Donkor said what was left now was for the technical people to come up with the details.
In a related development, a 13-member delegation from Trinidad and Tobago is in the country to discuss ways through which that country can work with the government to develop the oil and gas industry.
Areas of co-operation they will deliberate on include technology transfer, application of modern technology, energy business development and investment in the energy sector.
Interacting with Dr Donkor in Accra on Monday, the Trinidad and Tobago High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mrs Victoria Charles Mendez Charles, said her country was not only interested in strengthening the relationship between the two countries but also assisting Ghana to develop the oil and gas sector with the discovery of oil in the country.
She said although Trinidad and Tobago had been successful in the oil and gas industry, it had not been all that smooth.
She said the delegation was in the country to sell to Ghana how Trinidad and Tobago was able to overcome the challenges and pitfalls it faced in the sector.
She said her country valued local content in the oil and gas industry, and that "this will be a key part of discussions with officials in Ghana, since local content is very important in building the sector”.
Dr Donkor, for his part, said the country was determined to make oil and gas a blessing and would do everything to ensure that wealth was created in the industry.
"We want to see oil and gas as a blessing and we are determined to make a difference," he said, adding that the government would create the platform that would catapult the country in the area of oil and gas.
Dr Donkor said the country wanted to learn and share experiences from Trinidad and Tobago.
The delegation will be in the country for about a week.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Ducth government injects more funds into school feeding programme
25-09-09
Bacp Page
THE Dutch Government has released GH¢ 12,835,473 for the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFC).
The Dutch Government has also approved the final audit report of the School Feeding Programme for the financial year 2008.
According to a letter signed by Mr Michiel Pierkens, the Head of Development Co-operation of the Embassy of the Kingdom of The Netherlands, the money was for the funding of the financial year 2009.
The letter dated September 15, 2009, said the money was to be used for the purchase of locally-grown cooking commodities for the School Feeding Programme.
“I am also happy to inform you of the embassy’s transer of an amount of GH¢ 12,835,473 to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, to continue with the Ghana School Feeding Programme,” the letter addressed to the Chief Director of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development said.
The re-opening of basic schools last week was characterised by confusion in the implementation of the school feeding programme across the country.
The chaos, which resulted in some schools being fed with extra food while others did not have any at all, also drew a sharp wedge between the then National Co-ordinator of the Ghana School Feeding Programme, Mr Nsowah, and the Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Mr Alfred Vanderpuije.
While Mr Vanderpuije blamed the problem on caterers who used to cook for the schools but whose contracts had been abrogated, Mr Nsowah deplored the timing of the decision to recruit new caterers for the programme.
Bacp Page
THE Dutch Government has released GH¢ 12,835,473 for the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFC).
The Dutch Government has also approved the final audit report of the School Feeding Programme for the financial year 2008.
According to a letter signed by Mr Michiel Pierkens, the Head of Development Co-operation of the Embassy of the Kingdom of The Netherlands, the money was for the funding of the financial year 2009.
The letter dated September 15, 2009, said the money was to be used for the purchase of locally-grown cooking commodities for the School Feeding Programme.
“I am also happy to inform you of the embassy’s transer of an amount of GH¢ 12,835,473 to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, to continue with the Ghana School Feeding Programme,” the letter addressed to the Chief Director of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development said.
The re-opening of basic schools last week was characterised by confusion in the implementation of the school feeding programme across the country.
The chaos, which resulted in some schools being fed with extra food while others did not have any at all, also drew a sharp wedge between the then National Co-ordinator of the Ghana School Feeding Programme, Mr Nsowah, and the Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Mr Alfred Vanderpuije.
While Mr Vanderpuije blamed the problem on caterers who used to cook for the schools but whose contracts had been abrogated, Mr Nsowah deplored the timing of the decision to recruit new caterers for the programme.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
School land encroached upon
19-09-09
More than half of the land earmarked for the construction of the new site of the Christian Methodist Senior High School at Aplaku in the Ga South Municipality of the Greater Accra Region has been encroached upon.
Out of the 246 acres earmarked for the school’s project, only 80 acres is left, and that is also currently being encroached upon.
This came to light when the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr Samuel Bannerman-Mensah, and some officials of the GES paid a visit to the school yesterday.
The school authorities have, therefore, called on the Ministry of Education and the GES to expedite action to reclaim the lands encroached upon and stop developments being undertaken on the land.
At the school’s site, it was realised that private developers had put up buildings right behind the administration block and between the girls’ dormitory which was more than 100 metres away. Along the route were many buildings which were at various stages of completion.
Workers were also seen busily working on some structures at the time of the visit. One of the workers who gave his name as R.K. Wiafe, said he was not the owner of the building but executing the work for the owner who was abroad.
Briefing the Director-General and his team, the Chairman of the parent-teacher association (PTA), Mr Henry D.L. Yartey, said the land was acquired through Executive Instrument (29) of 1976 by the government for the GES and to be used as the new site for the school and the Kaneshie Secondary Technical School (KATECO).
He said shortly after the acquisition of the land, the chief of the area died, and since then, there had been conflicts there, thereby making it impossible for the government to pay compensation.
“Money could not be paid to any of the contesting parties since it was not sure who the real chief was. As a result of that the indiscriminate sale of land by other personalities and landguards began”, he said, and indicated that none of the encroachers had the proper documentation on the land.
Mr Yartey underscored the need for immediate action to be taken by the government to protect the land since it would be too late if that did not happen.
Landguards, he said, who were engaged in the sale of the land tormented the authorities of the school if they tried to stop them from their illegal activities.
Mr Yartey said apart from the construction of an administration block, classrooms, dormitories, dining hall, library, laboratory and a chapel, there were plans for the construction of pre-school and a junior high school to feed the senior high school.
The school presently, he said, did not have a playing field as a result of the encroachment.
Mr Bannerman-Mensah, for his part said, “we would go back and re-strategise by getting the sector minister informed”.
He was surprised at the turn of events and said, “action would be taken immediately to stop the new developers from completing their structures.
Later in a message to the students, he assured them of addressing the problem being faced in the school, especially with regard to land encroachment, adding that they should take advantage of the existing facilities to develop themselves.
The headmaster of the school, Mr Alfred Tackie, said the school had since the commencement of the 2009/2010 academic year been relocated from Asylum Down in Accra to Aplaku in the Ga South Municipality.
He said the girls dormitory had now been converted into classrooms for the current Form 2 and 3 students, and hinted that more than 450 students were expected to be admitted this year.
A teacher of the school, Mr Hypolite Luuse, welcomed the relocation of the school from Accra, saying that the perennial flooding of the school had been a source of worry to both students and staff.
The GES Director-General was accompanied by the Financial Controller of the GES, Mr Charles Otoo; the Greater Accra Regional Director of Education, Mrs Ernestina Afosah-Anim; the Ga South Municipal Director of Education, Mrs Florence Addo; the Accra Metropolitan Director of Education, Nii Okaidja Dinsey, and the acting board chairman of the school, Nana Appeadu Ammoanor I.
More than half of the land earmarked for the construction of the new site of the Christian Methodist Senior High School at Aplaku in the Ga South Municipality of the Greater Accra Region has been encroached upon.
Out of the 246 acres earmarked for the school’s project, only 80 acres is left, and that is also currently being encroached upon.
This came to light when the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr Samuel Bannerman-Mensah, and some officials of the GES paid a visit to the school yesterday.
The school authorities have, therefore, called on the Ministry of Education and the GES to expedite action to reclaim the lands encroached upon and stop developments being undertaken on the land.
At the school’s site, it was realised that private developers had put up buildings right behind the administration block and between the girls’ dormitory which was more than 100 metres away. Along the route were many buildings which were at various stages of completion.
Workers were also seen busily working on some structures at the time of the visit. One of the workers who gave his name as R.K. Wiafe, said he was not the owner of the building but executing the work for the owner who was abroad.
Briefing the Director-General and his team, the Chairman of the parent-teacher association (PTA), Mr Henry D.L. Yartey, said the land was acquired through Executive Instrument (29) of 1976 by the government for the GES and to be used as the new site for the school and the Kaneshie Secondary Technical School (KATECO).
He said shortly after the acquisition of the land, the chief of the area died, and since then, there had been conflicts there, thereby making it impossible for the government to pay compensation.
“Money could not be paid to any of the contesting parties since it was not sure who the real chief was. As a result of that the indiscriminate sale of land by other personalities and landguards began”, he said, and indicated that none of the encroachers had the proper documentation on the land.
Mr Yartey underscored the need for immediate action to be taken by the government to protect the land since it would be too late if that did not happen.
Landguards, he said, who were engaged in the sale of the land tormented the authorities of the school if they tried to stop them from their illegal activities.
Mr Yartey said apart from the construction of an administration block, classrooms, dormitories, dining hall, library, laboratory and a chapel, there were plans for the construction of pre-school and a junior high school to feed the senior high school.
The school presently, he said, did not have a playing field as a result of the encroachment.
Mr Bannerman-Mensah, for his part said, “we would go back and re-strategise by getting the sector minister informed”.
He was surprised at the turn of events and said, “action would be taken immediately to stop the new developers from completing their structures.
Later in a message to the students, he assured them of addressing the problem being faced in the school, especially with regard to land encroachment, adding that they should take advantage of the existing facilities to develop themselves.
The headmaster of the school, Mr Alfred Tackie, said the school had since the commencement of the 2009/2010 academic year been relocated from Asylum Down in Accra to Aplaku in the Ga South Municipality.
He said the girls dormitory had now been converted into classrooms for the current Form 2 and 3 students, and hinted that more than 450 students were expected to be admitted this year.
A teacher of the school, Mr Hypolite Luuse, welcomed the relocation of the school from Accra, saying that the perennial flooding of the school had been a source of worry to both students and staff.
The GES Director-General was accompanied by the Financial Controller of the GES, Mr Charles Otoo; the Greater Accra Regional Director of Education, Mrs Ernestina Afosah-Anim; the Ga South Municipal Director of Education, Mrs Florence Addo; the Accra Metropolitan Director of Education, Nii Okaidja Dinsey, and the acting board chairman of the school, Nana Appeadu Ammoanor I.
'Pool Resources to Publish Academic Books'
23--09-09
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THE Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. Kwesi Yankah, has called on governments in the West African sub-region to pool resources to undertake academic publishing of books.
That, he said, was to help in addressing the cost of publishing such books.
He made the call today when he launched the fourth edition of a book titled Principles and Practice of Surgery including Pathology in the Tropics in Accra.
The 1,446-page book is edited by Prof. Emeritus E.A. Badoe, a former Head of the Department of Surgery of the University of Ghana Medical School (UGMS).
The book, which treats the Basic Sciences, Surgical Pathology, General Surgery, Surgical Specialities, Orthopaedics, Trauma, among others, is a contribution of 53 experts who have had many years of surgical practice in the tropics from Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Papua New Guinea.
Prof. Yankah expressed the hope that the new edition of the book had incorporated findings from new learning experiences by the writers and other scholars, "since every academic field is dynamic and is subject to changes in approach and techniques over very short periods".
"What I regret though is the relative paucity of well-recognised academic publishing houses in the area of book publishers. One indeed appreciates local medical journals such as the Ghana Medical Journal, West African Journal of Medicine, West African Journal of Anatomy, Research Letters, etc. Beyond these we need academic publishing houses for books," he said.
In address read on his behalf, the Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Benjamin Kunbuor, congratulated the editors and those who contributed to the publication of the book.
"My brief perusal of this excellent production convinces me that the revision exercise has been thorough, practically sparing no section with some chapters being entirely re-written," he said, and indicated that the ministry would procure copies for government hospitals throughout the 150 districts in the country.
He said the new information on surgical infections, including hospital infections, direct observation therapy in tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS in surgical practice, leprosy, wound healing, shock, burns, surgical nutrition, among others, were "the state of the art information material here in Ghana, Africa and elsewhere".
A co-editor of the book, Prof. E.Q. Archampong, who is also a former Dean of the University of Ghana Medical School, said new concepts and trends in diagnosis and management of a wide range of conditions had been highlighted in the various fields of surgery.
He said the review process had been thorough and systematic.
The Chairman of the Book Development Committee, Prof. E.D. Yeboah, said the book embodied the spirit, philosophy, ethics, knowledge, service delivery, practice and teaching and research in surgery.
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THE Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. Kwesi Yankah, has called on governments in the West African sub-region to pool resources to undertake academic publishing of books.
That, he said, was to help in addressing the cost of publishing such books.
He made the call today when he launched the fourth edition of a book titled Principles and Practice of Surgery including Pathology in the Tropics in Accra.
The 1,446-page book is edited by Prof. Emeritus E.A. Badoe, a former Head of the Department of Surgery of the University of Ghana Medical School (UGMS).
The book, which treats the Basic Sciences, Surgical Pathology, General Surgery, Surgical Specialities, Orthopaedics, Trauma, among others, is a contribution of 53 experts who have had many years of surgical practice in the tropics from Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Papua New Guinea.
Prof. Yankah expressed the hope that the new edition of the book had incorporated findings from new learning experiences by the writers and other scholars, "since every academic field is dynamic and is subject to changes in approach and techniques over very short periods".
"What I regret though is the relative paucity of well-recognised academic publishing houses in the area of book publishers. One indeed appreciates local medical journals such as the Ghana Medical Journal, West African Journal of Medicine, West African Journal of Anatomy, Research Letters, etc. Beyond these we need academic publishing houses for books," he said.
In address read on his behalf, the Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Benjamin Kunbuor, congratulated the editors and those who contributed to the publication of the book.
"My brief perusal of this excellent production convinces me that the revision exercise has been thorough, practically sparing no section with some chapters being entirely re-written," he said, and indicated that the ministry would procure copies for government hospitals throughout the 150 districts in the country.
He said the new information on surgical infections, including hospital infections, direct observation therapy in tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS in surgical practice, leprosy, wound healing, shock, burns, surgical nutrition, among others, were "the state of the art information material here in Ghana, Africa and elsewhere".
A co-editor of the book, Prof. E.Q. Archampong, who is also a former Dean of the University of Ghana Medical School, said new concepts and trends in diagnosis and management of a wide range of conditions had been highlighted in the various fields of surgery.
He said the review process had been thorough and systematic.
The Chairman of the Book Development Committee, Prof. E.D. Yeboah, said the book embodied the spirit, philosophy, ethics, knowledge, service delivery, practice and teaching and research in surgery.
Nsowah Removed
23-09-09
Page 31
FORMER Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, Mr Michael Nsowah, has been relieved of his appointment as the National Co-ordinator of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP).
The termination of appointment took effect from yesterday, September 22, 2009.
Mr Nsowah, 63, confirmed this in an interview with the Daily Graphic yesterday.
According to him, no reason was assigned for his dismissal in his termination letter signed by the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Joseph Yileh Chireh.
The government has, however, explained that the termination of the appointment was to inject fresh ideas into making the implementation of the programme a success.
Mr Chireh said the fact that the contract engaging Mr Nsowah was due to expire next July did not bind the government to go by the dictates of the contract.
He believed that the GSFP had reached a stage where the abundant experiences and knowledge of other Ghanaians could be tapped and brought to bear on the running of the programme.
The termination of the contract comes two years after the dismissal of his predecessor, Dr Amoako Tuffour, following reports of financial impropriety and other allegations levelled against him by the Committee for Joint Action (CJA) and investigated by the previous administration.
Mr Nsowah said the letter directed him to hand over to the Chief Director of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development, adding that the letter of termination requested him to take his annual leave, which ends on October 31, 2009.
Mr Nsowah said he was given a two-year contract,
which was supposed to end in July next year.
He said he was not sure of what led to the termination of his appointment.
The re-opening of basic schools last week was characterised by confusion in the implementation of the school feeding programme across the country.
The chaos, which resulted in some schools being fed with extra food while others did not have any at all, also drew a sharp wedge between the National Co-ordinator of the Ghana School Feeding Programme, Mr Nsowah, and the Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Mr Alfred Vanderpuije.
While Mr Vanderpuije blamed the problem on caterers who used to cook for the schools but whose contracts had been abrogated, Mr Nsowah deplored the timing of the decision to recruit new caterers for the programme.
Page 31
FORMER Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, Mr Michael Nsowah, has been relieved of his appointment as the National Co-ordinator of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP).
The termination of appointment took effect from yesterday, September 22, 2009.
Mr Nsowah, 63, confirmed this in an interview with the Daily Graphic yesterday.
According to him, no reason was assigned for his dismissal in his termination letter signed by the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Joseph Yileh Chireh.
The government has, however, explained that the termination of the appointment was to inject fresh ideas into making the implementation of the programme a success.
Mr Chireh said the fact that the contract engaging Mr Nsowah was due to expire next July did not bind the government to go by the dictates of the contract.
He believed that the GSFP had reached a stage where the abundant experiences and knowledge of other Ghanaians could be tapped and brought to bear on the running of the programme.
The termination of the contract comes two years after the dismissal of his predecessor, Dr Amoako Tuffour, following reports of financial impropriety and other allegations levelled against him by the Committee for Joint Action (CJA) and investigated by the previous administration.
Mr Nsowah said the letter directed him to hand over to the Chief Director of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development, adding that the letter of termination requested him to take his annual leave, which ends on October 31, 2009.
Mr Nsowah said he was given a two-year contract,
which was supposed to end in July next year.
He said he was not sure of what led to the termination of his appointment.
The re-opening of basic schools last week was characterised by confusion in the implementation of the school feeding programme across the country.
The chaos, which resulted in some schools being fed with extra food while others did not have any at all, also drew a sharp wedge between the National Co-ordinator of the Ghana School Feeding Programme, Mr Nsowah, and the Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Mr Alfred Vanderpuije.
While Mr Vanderpuije blamed the problem on caterers who used to cook for the schools but whose contracts had been abrogated, Mr Nsowah deplored the timing of the decision to recruit new caterers for the programme.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Ghana to export palm oil to China
14-09-09
GHANA is to export 36,000 metric tonnes of palm oil to China next year following the conclusion of a $21.6 million deal between Chyuan Chya Ghana Limited and the China-Africa Economic Trade Limited.
The palm oil to be exported by Chyuan Chya Foods and Beverages Ghana Limited will be purchased from small and medium-scale palm oil producers in the country.
At a ceremony to formalise the trade agreement, the Chief Executive Officer of Chyuan Chya Foods and Beverages Company, Dr Lorinda L. Lan, said the contract would not only increase employment opportunities in the country, but also boost the income levels of local palm oil producers and address their marketing problems.
She said the 36,000 metric tonnes would be increased if the local producers were able to produce more, and stated that small and medium-scale producers had the capacity to produce 70 per cent of the 243,000 metric tonnes of palm oil produced in the country last year.
“If the local producers can produce more, we would increase the purchase order,” she said, and indicated that local producers would be assisted to produce more.
She said they had met some local producers in the Central and Eastern regions to see how possible they could work with them.
Dr Lan, who signed the contract on behalf of her company, said the immediate plan was to begin the shipment with 10,000 metric tonnes of palm oil by December 31, this year, and indicated that China had been looking for more palm oil elsewhere after importing the product from Malaysia for about 10 years.
Storage facilities for the produce, she said, would be built at the Takoradi Port in the Western Region to make shipment more convenient, adding that with the facility, the company would save $125,000 a month.
She said the two companies had already contacted the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), the Ghana Standards Board (GSB), Presidential Special Initiative (PSI) on Palm Oil and the Ghana Export Promotions Council (GEPC) on the contract to export the palm oil.
The President of China-Africa Economic Trade Limited, Mr Liu Yang, who signed on behalf of his company, said with the agreement, the local palm oil industry would be expanded, thereby employing more people.
He also reiterated that “the produce order would increase if Ghana can produce more”.
The contract would also make provision for the importation of rice and sugar from China to complement what was produced locally.
GHANA is to export 36,000 metric tonnes of palm oil to China next year following the conclusion of a $21.6 million deal between Chyuan Chya Ghana Limited and the China-Africa Economic Trade Limited.
The palm oil to be exported by Chyuan Chya Foods and Beverages Ghana Limited will be purchased from small and medium-scale palm oil producers in the country.
At a ceremony to formalise the trade agreement, the Chief Executive Officer of Chyuan Chya Foods and Beverages Company, Dr Lorinda L. Lan, said the contract would not only increase employment opportunities in the country, but also boost the income levels of local palm oil producers and address their marketing problems.
She said the 36,000 metric tonnes would be increased if the local producers were able to produce more, and stated that small and medium-scale producers had the capacity to produce 70 per cent of the 243,000 metric tonnes of palm oil produced in the country last year.
“If the local producers can produce more, we would increase the purchase order,” she said, and indicated that local producers would be assisted to produce more.
She said they had met some local producers in the Central and Eastern regions to see how possible they could work with them.
Dr Lan, who signed the contract on behalf of her company, said the immediate plan was to begin the shipment with 10,000 metric tonnes of palm oil by December 31, this year, and indicated that China had been looking for more palm oil elsewhere after importing the product from Malaysia for about 10 years.
Storage facilities for the produce, she said, would be built at the Takoradi Port in the Western Region to make shipment more convenient, adding that with the facility, the company would save $125,000 a month.
She said the two companies had already contacted the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), the Ghana Standards Board (GSB), Presidential Special Initiative (PSI) on Palm Oil and the Ghana Export Promotions Council (GEPC) on the contract to export the palm oil.
The President of China-Africa Economic Trade Limited, Mr Liu Yang, who signed on behalf of his company, said with the agreement, the local palm oil industry would be expanded, thereby employing more people.
He also reiterated that “the produce order would increase if Ghana can produce more”.
The contract would also make provision for the importation of rice and sugar from China to complement what was produced locally.
‘Work towards peace in Bawku’
17-09-09
THE Executive Director of the African Peacebuilding Club, Mr Salam Ramani has appealed to the people of the Bawku municipality to work towards sustaining peace in the area.
“I am appealing to all the people of Bawku, irrespective of their political, tribal and religious background to come together so that we can have lasting peace. Let’s see ourselves as brothers and sisters and work for the common good of the area,” he said in an interview with the Daily Graphic.
He said there was the need for the provision of adequate security in a every part of the municipality to ensure that the people went about their day-to-day activities peacefully.
Mr Ramani commended security personnel dispatched to the area, since without them, the situation would have escalated, adding that there was more to be done in terms of arresting those who ambushed people.
Regular patrols by the military and police, he said, were needed in the villages and ??various leading to the markets and communities.???
He, however, urged the personnel to do their work as professionals and arrest the perpetrators, no matter their political affiliation or tribe.
He said the integration of people in the area was of utmost importance, and that “we can’t have peace and development if we do not talk to our opponents”.
Mr Ramani indicated that the killing of people in Bawku did not speak well of the municipality, and that every single life was precious since it was through unity of purpose they could come together to develop the area.
“The Sunday, September 6, 2009 killing of Rufai Sumani was the latest in the series of attacks on innocent lives which needs to be stopped immediately,” he said.
He urged the Members of Parliament for the area to implement their campaign promises of ensuring lasting peace in area since they have a responsibility to the people.
“The MPs have a responsibility to impress upon the Government to provide logistics for the security agencies in the area. The MPs know the constituencies and have direct contact with some of the constituents who could provide vital information that could bring about peace in the area,” he said.
Mr Ramani lauded the National Peace Council for its timely intervention through the organisation of workshop on the need for the people to embrace peace and stop fighting.
“I hope that they will do well to get other civil society organisations who are into peacebuilding on board,” he said, and indicated that there was the need for sustained peace campaigns that would ensure peace in the area.
He, therefore, stressed the need for chiefs, elders, opinion leaders and religious leaders to take up the responsibility of sensitising the people, especially the youth not to allow themselves to used by persons seeking to destabilise the municipality.
Mr Ramani suggested that such sensitisation programmes be held at least three times a week in churches, schools, mosques, homes and markets, among other places so as to reach out to the majority of the people.
The African Peacebuilding Club, he said, was ever ready to work with any individual, group or organisations that were committed to ensuring total peace in Bawku and its environs.
“We as an NGO would continue to play our part to ensure peace in Bawku. We welcome support from any group in peacebuilding efforts irrespective of the political, ethnic and religious background,” he emphasised.
THE Executive Director of the African Peacebuilding Club, Mr Salam Ramani has appealed to the people of the Bawku municipality to work towards sustaining peace in the area.
“I am appealing to all the people of Bawku, irrespective of their political, tribal and religious background to come together so that we can have lasting peace. Let’s see ourselves as brothers and sisters and work for the common good of the area,” he said in an interview with the Daily Graphic.
He said there was the need for the provision of adequate security in a every part of the municipality to ensure that the people went about their day-to-day activities peacefully.
Mr Ramani commended security personnel dispatched to the area, since without them, the situation would have escalated, adding that there was more to be done in terms of arresting those who ambushed people.
Regular patrols by the military and police, he said, were needed in the villages and ??various leading to the markets and communities.???
He, however, urged the personnel to do their work as professionals and arrest the perpetrators, no matter their political affiliation or tribe.
He said the integration of people in the area was of utmost importance, and that “we can’t have peace and development if we do not talk to our opponents”.
Mr Ramani indicated that the killing of people in Bawku did not speak well of the municipality, and that every single life was precious since it was through unity of purpose they could come together to develop the area.
“The Sunday, September 6, 2009 killing of Rufai Sumani was the latest in the series of attacks on innocent lives which needs to be stopped immediately,” he said.
He urged the Members of Parliament for the area to implement their campaign promises of ensuring lasting peace in area since they have a responsibility to the people.
“The MPs have a responsibility to impress upon the Government to provide logistics for the security agencies in the area. The MPs know the constituencies and have direct contact with some of the constituents who could provide vital information that could bring about peace in the area,” he said.
Mr Ramani lauded the National Peace Council for its timely intervention through the organisation of workshop on the need for the people to embrace peace and stop fighting.
“I hope that they will do well to get other civil society organisations who are into peacebuilding on board,” he said, and indicated that there was the need for sustained peace campaigns that would ensure peace in the area.
He, therefore, stressed the need for chiefs, elders, opinion leaders and religious leaders to take up the responsibility of sensitising the people, especially the youth not to allow themselves to used by persons seeking to destabilise the municipality.
Mr Ramani suggested that such sensitisation programmes be held at least three times a week in churches, schools, mosques, homes and markets, among other places so as to reach out to the majority of the people.
The African Peacebuilding Club, he said, was ever ready to work with any individual, group or organisations that were committed to ensuring total peace in Bawku and its environs.
“We as an NGO would continue to play our part to ensure peace in Bawku. We welcome support from any group in peacebuilding efforts irrespective of the political, ethnic and religious background,” he emphasised.
Nkrumah Education Legacy
Special Edition
18-09-09
DR Kwame Nkrumah, a man of many parts, contributed greatly to the development of education in the country. Himself an academician, he set up the Ghana Education Trust, under which a number of secondary schools, teacher training colleges and higher educational institutions were also established.
The legacy of Dr Nkrumah in the area of education is unmatched as the educational institutions he set up in the country have become the building blocks of Ghana’s foundation.
Right from the secondary schools to the universities, it was evident that Dr Nkrumah had a great vision for the country. His vision on education was to provide the platform, through the establishment of educational institutions, to produce the manpower or the human resource needed for the development of the country.
As a starter, Dr Nkrumah began with the establishment of the Ghana National College in Cape Coast. He named the new school "Ghana National College" and directed that the school's motto be "Pro Patria", which means "For the Honour and Glory of our Fatherland".
Dr Kwame Nkrumah, on Tuesday, July 20, 1948, delivered a keynote address to inaugurate the new school, and on that same day, he delivered a brilliant speech, portions of which have been quoted below.
"In spite of the humble conditions under which we have started, I bring you a message of hope and inspiration. I bid you shake hands with your fellows and teachers over your study table and over the blackboards.
"I look forward to the time when there will be a chain of Ghana Colleges in all the four territories which make up the Gold Coast, leading to the founding of a very high institution in this country. In the name of the people of the Gold Coast, in the name of humanity and in the name of Almighty God, I bid you speed forward till we realise a free and United Gold Coast in a United Africa," he summed up.
Following the establishment of the Ghana National College, Dr Nkrumah began expanding the frontiers of education with the establishment of the Ghana Education Trust, which was charged to open secondary schools and teacher training colleges.
The trust was under the chairmanship of Rev. S. Nimako and the secondary schools it established included Mfantsiman Secondary School, Ofori Payin Secondary School, Techiman Secondary School, the Winneba Secondary School, Swedru Secondary School, Apam Secondary School, Dormaa Secondary School, Tema Secondary School, Oda Secondary School, and the Labone Secondary School.
Indeed, students who entered those secondary schools would need teachers to impart knowledge. And in ensuring that this became a reality, the country’s First President went to initiate the setting up of teacher training colleges, about 16, of which he built. The 16 included the Atebubu Training College, Berekum Training College, Fosu Training College and the Enchi Training College. These were complemented by the teacher training colleges built by religious bodies.
Dr Nkrumah also set up universities to provide higher level education with the establishment of the University of Cape Coast in 1962 to train teachers for secondary schools, training colleges, technical institutes, among others.
He set up the {Kwame Nkrumah University} of Science and Technology in 1952 and the Kwadaso College of Education to produce middle level manpower for the agriculture sector, and the School of Languages, Ajumako, among others. Indeed, before he was overthrown, Dr Nkrumah secured a parcel of land to put up a College of Agriculture at Somanya in the Greater Accra Region.
He was instrumental in the transformation of the University College of the Gold Coast to the University of Ghana. In the 1960-61 academic year, the College Council made a request to the Government of Ghana for legislation to constitute the University College into a university with the power to award its own degrees. The Government appointed an International Commission to examine the problem. On the recommendations of that Commission, the University of Ghana was set up by an Act of Parliament on October 1, 1961 (Act 79). The then President of the Republic of Ghana, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, became the first Chancellor of the university.
Dr Nkrumah attached great importance to the delivery and access to education in the country as a result of his rich educational background.
In 1961, he introduced free education for primary and middle schools to ensure that every child of school age had education. It must be noted that the Education Act of 1961 (Act 87), under the tenure of Dr Nkrumah, was reviewed only last year and replaced with the current education act.
The visionary did not only end there, but introduced a policy to supply free textbooks to schoolchildren in 1963.
He attended the Government Training College (which became part of Achimota College) in Accra in 1927 and obtained Teacher’s Certificate from the college in 1930. He became a teacher in 1931 and was later promoted to be a head teacher at Catholic School Axim. In 1935, he studied at Lincoln University, USA, and obtained Bachelor of Arts (BA Arts) in 1939 and BA Theology in 1942.
In 1942, he received a Master of Science degree (Msc. in Education) from the University of Pennsylvania. He again received another Master’s degree, this time, in a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) from the University of Pennsylvania in February 1943. He was also awarded a doctoral degree in law at Lincoln University and the most outstanding professor of the year by the Lincolonian in 1945.
18-09-09
DR Kwame Nkrumah, a man of many parts, contributed greatly to the development of education in the country. Himself an academician, he set up the Ghana Education Trust, under which a number of secondary schools, teacher training colleges and higher educational institutions were also established.
The legacy of Dr Nkrumah in the area of education is unmatched as the educational institutions he set up in the country have become the building blocks of Ghana’s foundation.
Right from the secondary schools to the universities, it was evident that Dr Nkrumah had a great vision for the country. His vision on education was to provide the platform, through the establishment of educational institutions, to produce the manpower or the human resource needed for the development of the country.
As a starter, Dr Nkrumah began with the establishment of the Ghana National College in Cape Coast. He named the new school "Ghana National College" and directed that the school's motto be "Pro Patria", which means "For the Honour and Glory of our Fatherland".
Dr Kwame Nkrumah, on Tuesday, July 20, 1948, delivered a keynote address to inaugurate the new school, and on that same day, he delivered a brilliant speech, portions of which have been quoted below.
"In spite of the humble conditions under which we have started, I bring you a message of hope and inspiration. I bid you shake hands with your fellows and teachers over your study table and over the blackboards.
"I look forward to the time when there will be a chain of Ghana Colleges in all the four territories which make up the Gold Coast, leading to the founding of a very high institution in this country. In the name of the people of the Gold Coast, in the name of humanity and in the name of Almighty God, I bid you speed forward till we realise a free and United Gold Coast in a United Africa," he summed up.
Following the establishment of the Ghana National College, Dr Nkrumah began expanding the frontiers of education with the establishment of the Ghana Education Trust, which was charged to open secondary schools and teacher training colleges.
The trust was under the chairmanship of Rev. S. Nimako and the secondary schools it established included Mfantsiman Secondary School, Ofori Payin Secondary School, Techiman Secondary School, the Winneba Secondary School, Swedru Secondary School, Apam Secondary School, Dormaa Secondary School, Tema Secondary School, Oda Secondary School, and the Labone Secondary School.
Indeed, students who entered those secondary schools would need teachers to impart knowledge. And in ensuring that this became a reality, the country’s First President went to initiate the setting up of teacher training colleges, about 16, of which he built. The 16 included the Atebubu Training College, Berekum Training College, Fosu Training College and the Enchi Training College. These were complemented by the teacher training colleges built by religious bodies.
Dr Nkrumah also set up universities to provide higher level education with the establishment of the University of Cape Coast in 1962 to train teachers for secondary schools, training colleges, technical institutes, among others.
He set up the {Kwame Nkrumah University} of Science and Technology in 1952 and the Kwadaso College of Education to produce middle level manpower for the agriculture sector, and the School of Languages, Ajumako, among others. Indeed, before he was overthrown, Dr Nkrumah secured a parcel of land to put up a College of Agriculture at Somanya in the Greater Accra Region.
He was instrumental in the transformation of the University College of the Gold Coast to the University of Ghana. In the 1960-61 academic year, the College Council made a request to the Government of Ghana for legislation to constitute the University College into a university with the power to award its own degrees. The Government appointed an International Commission to examine the problem. On the recommendations of that Commission, the University of Ghana was set up by an Act of Parliament on October 1, 1961 (Act 79). The then President of the Republic of Ghana, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, became the first Chancellor of the university.
Dr Nkrumah attached great importance to the delivery and access to education in the country as a result of his rich educational background.
In 1961, he introduced free education for primary and middle schools to ensure that every child of school age had education. It must be noted that the Education Act of 1961 (Act 87), under the tenure of Dr Nkrumah, was reviewed only last year and replaced with the current education act.
The visionary did not only end there, but introduced a policy to supply free textbooks to schoolchildren in 1963.
He attended the Government Training College (which became part of Achimota College) in Accra in 1927 and obtained Teacher’s Certificate from the college in 1930. He became a teacher in 1931 and was later promoted to be a head teacher at Catholic School Axim. In 1935, he studied at Lincoln University, USA, and obtained Bachelor of Arts (BA Arts) in 1939 and BA Theology in 1942.
In 1942, he received a Master of Science degree (Msc. in Education) from the University of Pennsylvania. He again received another Master’s degree, this time, in a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) from the University of Pennsylvania in February 1943. He was also awarded a doctoral degree in law at Lincoln University and the most outstanding professor of the year by the Lincolonian in 1945.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Govt takes steps to pay TOR debts
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10-09-09
THE government has appointed a transaction adviser to help raise funds to pay half of the $600 million owed the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) by the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) to enable the bank to provide Letters of Credit for the purchase of crude oil for the refinery.
The Minister of Energy, Dr Joe Oteng-Adjei, who made this known, said the GCB had indicated its readiness to issue Letters of Credit for the importation of crude oil provided TOR could make a part payment of $300 million of its indebtedness to it.
He said this at a staff durbar yesterday when he visited the refinery to familiarise himself with its present state of operations.
He said the inability of the refinery to get crude oil was as a result of its indebtedness, adding that the refinery was indebted to the tune of GH¢1.2 billion.
Dr Oteng-Adjei said apart from owing the GCB, the refinery was indebted to bulk traders to the tune of $240 million. Among them are the Volta River Authority, Bulk Oil Storage and Transport (BOST) and the Electricity Company of Ghana.
He said the immediate priority now was to clear the balance sheet, since nobody or no bank would issue Letters of Credit if it saw it.
He said the refinery's debt was not the doing of the current government and asked the workers to bear with as it took steps to get Letters of Credit to import crude oil soon.
On the TOR Recovery Levy, Dr Oteng-Adjei said the government had created a special account for the levy to enable a proper monitoring. The levy was initially deposited in the Consolidated Fund, and this the minister said made it difficult to monitor how the account was used.
Dr Oteng-Adjei said aside TOR's debt, a lot of people were indebted to the refinery to the tune of GH¢311 million, describing it as unacceptable, especially when an entity owed the refinery GH¢104 billion.
In view of the refinery's indebtedness, he said, he had directed that allowances for Board of Directors be frozen till the financial status improved.
"We would not mind they taking T and T if they come for meeting," he said, adding that TOR had been asked not to pay the former MD until things were positive.
He gave the assurance that the government would restructure TOR for the better, and that it would expand the refinery's current capacity of 45,000 barrels to 145,000.
Dr Oteng-Adjei warned that the government would not spare anyone, no matter the status, who tried to sabotage or thwart the efforts being made to improve the state of the refinery.
He said with agitation for wage increase in the face of overstaffing, the prudent thing to do was to cut down o the number of staff. He, however, asked the management and the union to work on how to address the issue.
Dr Oteng-Adjei commended the staff for their hard work that brought the premix crisis to an end.
The acting Managing Director of TOR, Dr Kwame Ampofo, said the company had responsible workers and leadership, and that they would work with the government to improve its status.
He denied that the current board had approved new allowances for its members, stressing that the current allowances were the same as those paid to the previous board about three years ago.
The Chairman of the TOR Workers Union, Mr Albert Pinto, said TOR workers were hardworking and that once crude oil was provided, the refinery would be able to pay its debt.
He blamed politicians for the current state of affairs of the refinery, pointing out that the refinery was a viable entity that needed to be supported to enable it to deliver.
10-09-09
THE government has appointed a transaction adviser to help raise funds to pay half of the $600 million owed the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) by the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) to enable the bank to provide Letters of Credit for the purchase of crude oil for the refinery.
The Minister of Energy, Dr Joe Oteng-Adjei, who made this known, said the GCB had indicated its readiness to issue Letters of Credit for the importation of crude oil provided TOR could make a part payment of $300 million of its indebtedness to it.
He said this at a staff durbar yesterday when he visited the refinery to familiarise himself with its present state of operations.
He said the inability of the refinery to get crude oil was as a result of its indebtedness, adding that the refinery was indebted to the tune of GH¢1.2 billion.
Dr Oteng-Adjei said apart from owing the GCB, the refinery was indebted to bulk traders to the tune of $240 million. Among them are the Volta River Authority, Bulk Oil Storage and Transport (BOST) and the Electricity Company of Ghana.
He said the immediate priority now was to clear the balance sheet, since nobody or no bank would issue Letters of Credit if it saw it.
He said the refinery's debt was not the doing of the current government and asked the workers to bear with as it took steps to get Letters of Credit to import crude oil soon.
On the TOR Recovery Levy, Dr Oteng-Adjei said the government had created a special account for the levy to enable a proper monitoring. The levy was initially deposited in the Consolidated Fund, and this the minister said made it difficult to monitor how the account was used.
Dr Oteng-Adjei said aside TOR's debt, a lot of people were indebted to the refinery to the tune of GH¢311 million, describing it as unacceptable, especially when an entity owed the refinery GH¢104 billion.
In view of the refinery's indebtedness, he said, he had directed that allowances for Board of Directors be frozen till the financial status improved.
"We would not mind they taking T and T if they come for meeting," he said, adding that TOR had been asked not to pay the former MD until things were positive.
He gave the assurance that the government would restructure TOR for the better, and that it would expand the refinery's current capacity of 45,000 barrels to 145,000.
Dr Oteng-Adjei warned that the government would not spare anyone, no matter the status, who tried to sabotage or thwart the efforts being made to improve the state of the refinery.
He said with agitation for wage increase in the face of overstaffing, the prudent thing to do was to cut down o the number of staff. He, however, asked the management and the union to work on how to address the issue.
Dr Oteng-Adjei commended the staff for their hard work that brought the premix crisis to an end.
The acting Managing Director of TOR, Dr Kwame Ampofo, said the company had responsible workers and leadership, and that they would work with the government to improve its status.
He denied that the current board had approved new allowances for its members, stressing that the current allowances were the same as those paid to the previous board about three years ago.
The Chairman of the TOR Workers Union, Mr Albert Pinto, said TOR workers were hardworking and that once crude oil was provided, the refinery would be able to pay its debt.
He blamed politicians for the current state of affairs of the refinery, pointing out that the refinery was a viable entity that needed to be supported to enable it to deliver.
University graduates trained in employment opportunities
14-09-09
Page 11
A TWO-DAY training programme to equip graduates of tertiary institutions with the requisite skills that will enable them to secure employment opportunities has been held in Accra.
The event was to adequately prepare the graduates through the provision of skills for the creation of job opportunities for themselves and on how to apply for jobs and handle interviews, among other things.
It was organised by an industrial consultancy firm; Shelley’s Investments Management Limited.
Addressing participants during the opening ceremony of the fourth event, the Chief Executive Officer of Shelley’s Investment Management Limited, Mr Shelly Amos, said it was difficult to understand why qualified graduates found it hard to get jobs.
On the issue of career development, he said everything was worth taking seriously, adding that one of the major challenges for graduates in search of jobs was their approach to job interviews.
“Every step in career development is sensitive and must be taken seriously. We want to create more opportunities for graduates to pass their interviews,” he stated.
Mr Amos said the dream of the organisation was wealth creation by 2020 through the expansion of job creation networks.
The fourth event was on training in the banking career and it was to help identify fraud in banking operations, recruitment and selling, he disclosed, and said “we want to help the graduates to be attractive for the competitive job market”.
He said about 250 people had so far benefited from the training, which was held every month.
Page 11
A TWO-DAY training programme to equip graduates of tertiary institutions with the requisite skills that will enable them to secure employment opportunities has been held in Accra.
The event was to adequately prepare the graduates through the provision of skills for the creation of job opportunities for themselves and on how to apply for jobs and handle interviews, among other things.
It was organised by an industrial consultancy firm; Shelley’s Investments Management Limited.
Addressing participants during the opening ceremony of the fourth event, the Chief Executive Officer of Shelley’s Investment Management Limited, Mr Shelly Amos, said it was difficult to understand why qualified graduates found it hard to get jobs.
On the issue of career development, he said everything was worth taking seriously, adding that one of the major challenges for graduates in search of jobs was their approach to job interviews.
“Every step in career development is sensitive and must be taken seriously. We want to create more opportunities for graduates to pass their interviews,” he stated.
Mr Amos said the dream of the organisation was wealth creation by 2020 through the expansion of job creation networks.
The fourth event was on training in the banking career and it was to help identify fraud in banking operations, recruitment and selling, he disclosed, and said “we want to help the graduates to be attractive for the competitive job market”.
He said about 250 people had so far benefited from the training, which was held every month.
Teachers must be part of school reforms
12-09-09
A FORMER General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Mr Paul Osei-Mensah, has underscored the need for teachers to be actively involved in the formulation of policies on education.
That, he said, would ensure a better implementation of such policies since they would have had a perfect understanding of the policies.
“Teachers should not see themselves as mere implementers of ideologies of others, but should be part of the process of reforms, through their professional bodies”, he said at the third Quadrennial Delegates Conference of the Greater Accra Regional GNAT in Accra.
It was held on the theme: “The Role of The Teacher in The New Education Reform”.
Mr Osei-Mensah underscored the need for bodies such as the Ghana Education Service (GES) Council, the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE), Council for Technical and Vocational Education (COTVET) and the councils of the various universities and polytechnics to determine the curricula and duration of courses at those levels.
The problem the country had, he said, was that “we do not allow national institutions to perform their statutory duties”, adding that policies such as free textbooks, Capitation Grant and free school uniforms should be modified to allow only the poor to benefit.
According to him, “there should be positive discrimination in favour of the poor.
Mr Osei-Mensah, who is also a member of the National Labour Commission (NLC), said the government should rank teachers among the list of its top public servants and reward them adequately, and that they (teachers) should be provided with certain basic educational inputs to be able to perform.
The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Armah Ashietey, who opened the conference, said motivating teachers was the key to improving the quality, accessibility and relevance of education.
“The government is committed to investing in people and I can assure you that teachers would be given the needed motivation to enable them to play their defined roles towards attainment of this goal,” he said.
He stressed the need for teachers to operate within a peaceful industrial climate and choose dialogue to settle industrial disputes instead of resorting to strikes which would create unnecessary tension.
Nii Ashiety said the government would continue to collaborate with district assemblies to upgrade basic school infrastructure throughout the country.
He called on parents not to shirk their responsibilities so that together “we can have a holistic development of the child in a congenial atmosphere of partnership and solidarity”.
A FORMER General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Mr Paul Osei-Mensah, has underscored the need for teachers to be actively involved in the formulation of policies on education.
That, he said, would ensure a better implementation of such policies since they would have had a perfect understanding of the policies.
“Teachers should not see themselves as mere implementers of ideologies of others, but should be part of the process of reforms, through their professional bodies”, he said at the third Quadrennial Delegates Conference of the Greater Accra Regional GNAT in Accra.
It was held on the theme: “The Role of The Teacher in The New Education Reform”.
Mr Osei-Mensah underscored the need for bodies such as the Ghana Education Service (GES) Council, the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE), Council for Technical and Vocational Education (COTVET) and the councils of the various universities and polytechnics to determine the curricula and duration of courses at those levels.
The problem the country had, he said, was that “we do not allow national institutions to perform their statutory duties”, adding that policies such as free textbooks, Capitation Grant and free school uniforms should be modified to allow only the poor to benefit.
According to him, “there should be positive discrimination in favour of the poor.
Mr Osei-Mensah, who is also a member of the National Labour Commission (NLC), said the government should rank teachers among the list of its top public servants and reward them adequately, and that they (teachers) should be provided with certain basic educational inputs to be able to perform.
The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Armah Ashietey, who opened the conference, said motivating teachers was the key to improving the quality, accessibility and relevance of education.
“The government is committed to investing in people and I can assure you that teachers would be given the needed motivation to enable them to play their defined roles towards attainment of this goal,” he said.
He stressed the need for teachers to operate within a peaceful industrial climate and choose dialogue to settle industrial disputes instead of resorting to strikes which would create unnecessary tension.
Nii Ashiety said the government would continue to collaborate with district assemblies to upgrade basic school infrastructure throughout the country.
He called on parents not to shirk their responsibilities so that together “we can have a holistic development of the child in a congenial atmosphere of partnership and solidarity”.
Review policy of resitting BECE
14-09-09
Page 11
A LECTURER at the University of Cape Coast, Mr Kingsley Adjei, has called for a review of the current policy of re-sitting the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
He noted that the current re-sit policy under which a candidate who did not perform well was supposed to re-write all the papers he/she wrote, including those he/she passed in and go back to his/her former school to re-sit the examination was a disincentive to candidates.
“It is time the current policy is reviewed to make candidates re-write only subjects they did not perform in and re-write those papers not necessarily in their former schools,” he told the Daily Graphic.
For instance, he said under the current re-sit policy it would be difficult for candidates whose parents have relocated or have been transferred to go back to their former schools to re-sit the examination, adding that the stigma attached to going back to one’s former school to re-write was not good enough for children.
With the current re-sit policy, if a candidate scores one in all subjects and scores six in any of the core subjects; Mathematics, English, Science or Social Studies, he/she is not qualified for placement into senior high school and technical institute under the Computerised Schools Selection and Placement System (CSSPS).
Under the guidelines for placement a candidate has to get a minimum score of grade five in all the core subjects, namely English, Mathematics, General Science and Social Studies, and in any two best subjects. This should give a candidate a minimum of aggregate 30 to get placement.
However, if a candidate scores grade six in any or both of the two best subjects, the candidate should have a grade better than five in any of the core subjects to qualify for placement.
Mr Adjei said with the continuous assessment records of candidates already available from the first sitting, a new system should be adopted to enable the students to re-write only subjects or papers they did not do well in and be made to re-write in any school of their choice.
Mr Adjei said it should also be possible to have a private BECE examination similar to that of the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) November-December private candidates examination.
He blamed the poor performance of candidates at the BECE level on parental or family neglect, poor supervision, the lack of teachers and the lack of motivation for teachers, among other things.
He explained that the failure of parents and guardians to pay attention to the academic activities of their children and wards did not encourage them (children and wards) to take their studies seriously.
Mr Adjei said some parents did not only fail to show up at their children’s school to find out from teachers how their children were performing, saying that the parents did not attend parent-teacher association (PTA) meetings and other meetings, and then in the end blamed teachers for the inability of their children to pass.
Teachers too, he said, shared in the blame as some of them idled about as a result of poor supervision on the part of Ghana Education Service (GES) officials.
The inadequacy of teachers in the rural areas, he said, was also another contributory factor to the poor performance of candidates, and stressed the need for more qualified teachers to be sent to such areas.
Mr Adjei called for what he termed a comprehensive rural development programme under which deprived areas would not only be provided with teaching and learning materials, but school infrastructure, roads, water and electricity to encourage teachers to go to those areas.
“Conditions of service of teachers should not only be about salaries. It should be about the provision of facilities that would enable them to deliver,” he said.
He expressed concern about the shortcut to riches and indicated that the practice had resulted in students engaging in cyberfraud, known locally also as sakawa, to get rich quick to the detriment of their education.
Mr Adjei indicated that some students no longer took their education seriously, especially having realised that some non-educated or semi-literate persons were rich.
Page 11
A LECTURER at the University of Cape Coast, Mr Kingsley Adjei, has called for a review of the current policy of re-sitting the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
He noted that the current re-sit policy under which a candidate who did not perform well was supposed to re-write all the papers he/she wrote, including those he/she passed in and go back to his/her former school to re-sit the examination was a disincentive to candidates.
“It is time the current policy is reviewed to make candidates re-write only subjects they did not perform in and re-write those papers not necessarily in their former schools,” he told the Daily Graphic.
For instance, he said under the current re-sit policy it would be difficult for candidates whose parents have relocated or have been transferred to go back to their former schools to re-sit the examination, adding that the stigma attached to going back to one’s former school to re-write was not good enough for children.
With the current re-sit policy, if a candidate scores one in all subjects and scores six in any of the core subjects; Mathematics, English, Science or Social Studies, he/she is not qualified for placement into senior high school and technical institute under the Computerised Schools Selection and Placement System (CSSPS).
Under the guidelines for placement a candidate has to get a minimum score of grade five in all the core subjects, namely English, Mathematics, General Science and Social Studies, and in any two best subjects. This should give a candidate a minimum of aggregate 30 to get placement.
However, if a candidate scores grade six in any or both of the two best subjects, the candidate should have a grade better than five in any of the core subjects to qualify for placement.
Mr Adjei said with the continuous assessment records of candidates already available from the first sitting, a new system should be adopted to enable the students to re-write only subjects or papers they did not do well in and be made to re-write in any school of their choice.
Mr Adjei said it should also be possible to have a private BECE examination similar to that of the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) November-December private candidates examination.
He blamed the poor performance of candidates at the BECE level on parental or family neglect, poor supervision, the lack of teachers and the lack of motivation for teachers, among other things.
He explained that the failure of parents and guardians to pay attention to the academic activities of their children and wards did not encourage them (children and wards) to take their studies seriously.
Mr Adjei said some parents did not only fail to show up at their children’s school to find out from teachers how their children were performing, saying that the parents did not attend parent-teacher association (PTA) meetings and other meetings, and then in the end blamed teachers for the inability of their children to pass.
Teachers too, he said, shared in the blame as some of them idled about as a result of poor supervision on the part of Ghana Education Service (GES) officials.
The inadequacy of teachers in the rural areas, he said, was also another contributory factor to the poor performance of candidates, and stressed the need for more qualified teachers to be sent to such areas.
Mr Adjei called for what he termed a comprehensive rural development programme under which deprived areas would not only be provided with teaching and learning materials, but school infrastructure, roads, water and electricity to encourage teachers to go to those areas.
“Conditions of service of teachers should not only be about salaries. It should be about the provision of facilities that would enable them to deliver,” he said.
He expressed concern about the shortcut to riches and indicated that the practice had resulted in students engaging in cyberfraud, known locally also as sakawa, to get rich quick to the detriment of their education.
Mr Adjei indicated that some students no longer took their education seriously, especially having realised that some non-educated or semi-literate persons were rich.
TEWU, Poly Rectors on collision course
15-09-09
THE Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) is on a collision course with the Conference of Rectors of Polytechnics (CORP) over the stalled negotiations on the review of the union’s unified conditions of service.
According to TEWU, its unified conditions of service expired in December 2007 and that efforts to address the problem had not been successful.
The General Secretary of TEWU, Mr Dan Ayim Antwi, told the Daily Graphic that a 14-day ultimatum given to the CORP for the re-opening of negotiations expired last Friday.
Consequently, he said, the union would write to the National Labour Commission (NLC) to direct the Conference of Rectors of Polytechnics (CORPs) to re-open negotiations for the review of its unified conditions of service.
He said the union had all along adopted the process of dialogue to ensure industrial harmony and would continue to use that strategy.
Mr Antwi said the CORP on July 16, 2009, promised the union that it would intensify its efforts to secure a mandate for negotiations, saying that “regrettably five weeks have elapsed without the two sides returning to the negotiation table”.
Following the expiration of the 14-day ultimatum given TEWU, the CORP in a letter dated August 31, 2009, pleaded for more time from the union to seek a mandate from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare.
“The Conference of Rectors of Polytechnics appreciate your patience on this matter and plead that you give us more time to seek mandate from the ministries for negotiation,” a letter signed by Dr F. Addo-Yobo, for the Chairman of CORP to the General Secretary of TEWU said.
Mr Antwi expressed the hope that the NLC would intervene in the matter to ensure peace on the campuses of the various polytechnics.
He said the last time TEWU met the CORP was on October 23 at which TEWU requested for deferment of negotiations on all items submitted except overtime, warm clothing, furniture loan, salary advance and medical care.
He said the TEWU would continue to use the process of dialogue, hence its decision to go to the NLC.
THE Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) is on a collision course with the Conference of Rectors of Polytechnics (CORP) over the stalled negotiations on the review of the union’s unified conditions of service.
According to TEWU, its unified conditions of service expired in December 2007 and that efforts to address the problem had not been successful.
The General Secretary of TEWU, Mr Dan Ayim Antwi, told the Daily Graphic that a 14-day ultimatum given to the CORP for the re-opening of negotiations expired last Friday.
Consequently, he said, the union would write to the National Labour Commission (NLC) to direct the Conference of Rectors of Polytechnics (CORPs) to re-open negotiations for the review of its unified conditions of service.
He said the union had all along adopted the process of dialogue to ensure industrial harmony and would continue to use that strategy.
Mr Antwi said the CORP on July 16, 2009, promised the union that it would intensify its efforts to secure a mandate for negotiations, saying that “regrettably five weeks have elapsed without the two sides returning to the negotiation table”.
Following the expiration of the 14-day ultimatum given TEWU, the CORP in a letter dated August 31, 2009, pleaded for more time from the union to seek a mandate from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare.
“The Conference of Rectors of Polytechnics appreciate your patience on this matter and plead that you give us more time to seek mandate from the ministries for negotiation,” a letter signed by Dr F. Addo-Yobo, for the Chairman of CORP to the General Secretary of TEWU said.
Mr Antwi expressed the hope that the NLC would intervene in the matter to ensure peace on the campuses of the various polytechnics.
He said the last time TEWU met the CORP was on October 23 at which TEWU requested for deferment of negotiations on all items submitted except overtime, warm clothing, furniture loan, salary advance and medical care.
He said the TEWU would continue to use the process of dialogue, hence its decision to go to the NLC.
CHILD'S RIGHTS, WAEC IN ROW
Page 1 Lead
15-09-09
THE publication of names and pictures of students who are alleged to have engaged in examination malpractices has caused the West African Examination Council (WAEC) to be pitted against some groups in the country who are concerned with child rights issues.
In separate interactions with the Daily Graphic, Child Rights International (CRI) and another group which described itself as concerned citizens condemned the publication of the pictures of the students, claiming it violated their rights.
“On Friday, September 4, 2009, we were shocked by the publication in the Daily Graphic of the names and pictures of some students who were reported to have engaged in examination malpractices”, a statement jointly signed by Nana Prempeh Agyemang, Akuba Amponsah and Michael Omari-Wadie on behalf of the concerned citizens, said in a statement to Graphic.
For its part, the CRI said the action of WAEC would not augur well for the development and future of the affected students.
But WAEC says it stands by the practice and would not stop as long as candidates continued to cheat in examination.
The acting Head of Test Administration of WAEC, Mr Kweku Nyamekye-Aidoo, told the Daily Graphic that the previous sanctions such as the cancellation of papers were not working, adding that the WAEC Law (Act 719), which criminalised copying in examination, did not make provision for age.
“Did those who passed the law not know that it was going to affect children?” he asked, and called on all parents, teachers and the society at large to join in the fight against examination malpractice.
The concerned group argued that it was ironic that in the said publication, WAEC stated that the names and not pictures of such candidates should be published.
They said much as they did not condone examination malpractice, they also believed that cancelling the examination papers of the candidates, banning them from taking part in examinations for a year and also publishing their names in the dailies were enough punishment.
“The publication of the pictures must have traumatised the candidates,” they contended.
The concerned citizens said everybody needed a second chance to reform and a first offender should be spared such an ordeal.
“Publishing the picture of a student just because he/she sent a mobile phone into the examination room is like comparing him or her to a convicted rapist, an armed robber or a drug peddler. Even those who commit such crimes have some rights to be protected,” they argued.
The concerned citizens, therefore, appealed to WAEC on behalf of the affected students to render an unqualified apology to the students for the trauma they had put them through.
The Executive Director of Child’s Rights International, Mr Bright Appiah, in an interview with the Daily Graphic, deplored the WAEC action and noted that “WAEC needs to review the current practice as it was against the maintenance and rehabilitation of the candidates”.
However, WAEC has defended its decision to publish the names and photographs, saying examination malpractice was getting sophisticated day by day.
One way to stop such practice, the council said, was to adopt measures that were stringent enough to make candidates desist from such a malpractice.
Mr Appiah said he sanctioned the measures of suspending the candidates from writing the examination for a certain periods, withholding of results and cancellation of papers, among other things, since they were enough punishments for the candidates.
“The practice of publishing the names and photographs is not the best,” he emphasised, pointing out that it would undermine the process of their rehabilitation.
Mr Appiah said Article 28, Section 1 (b) of the 1992 Constitution talked about children and persons receiving protection against exposure to physical and moral hazards.
In addition, he said, under the Welfare Principle of the Children’s Act, the best interest of the child had to be the primary consideration of any court, person, institution or body in any matter concerning the child.
Aside that, he said, Article 29 of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child indicated that state parties should take all appropriate measures to promote physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration of the child victim, among other things.
WAEC had over the last couple of days published the names and photographs of candidates said to have cheated in some of its examinations.
15-09-09
THE publication of names and pictures of students who are alleged to have engaged in examination malpractices has caused the West African Examination Council (WAEC) to be pitted against some groups in the country who are concerned with child rights issues.
In separate interactions with the Daily Graphic, Child Rights International (CRI) and another group which described itself as concerned citizens condemned the publication of the pictures of the students, claiming it violated their rights.
“On Friday, September 4, 2009, we were shocked by the publication in the Daily Graphic of the names and pictures of some students who were reported to have engaged in examination malpractices”, a statement jointly signed by Nana Prempeh Agyemang, Akuba Amponsah and Michael Omari-Wadie on behalf of the concerned citizens, said in a statement to Graphic.
For its part, the CRI said the action of WAEC would not augur well for the development and future of the affected students.
But WAEC says it stands by the practice and would not stop as long as candidates continued to cheat in examination.
The acting Head of Test Administration of WAEC, Mr Kweku Nyamekye-Aidoo, told the Daily Graphic that the previous sanctions such as the cancellation of papers were not working, adding that the WAEC Law (Act 719), which criminalised copying in examination, did not make provision for age.
“Did those who passed the law not know that it was going to affect children?” he asked, and called on all parents, teachers and the society at large to join in the fight against examination malpractice.
The concerned group argued that it was ironic that in the said publication, WAEC stated that the names and not pictures of such candidates should be published.
They said much as they did not condone examination malpractice, they also believed that cancelling the examination papers of the candidates, banning them from taking part in examinations for a year and also publishing their names in the dailies were enough punishment.
“The publication of the pictures must have traumatised the candidates,” they contended.
The concerned citizens said everybody needed a second chance to reform and a first offender should be spared such an ordeal.
“Publishing the picture of a student just because he/she sent a mobile phone into the examination room is like comparing him or her to a convicted rapist, an armed robber or a drug peddler. Even those who commit such crimes have some rights to be protected,” they argued.
The concerned citizens, therefore, appealed to WAEC on behalf of the affected students to render an unqualified apology to the students for the trauma they had put them through.
The Executive Director of Child’s Rights International, Mr Bright Appiah, in an interview with the Daily Graphic, deplored the WAEC action and noted that “WAEC needs to review the current practice as it was against the maintenance and rehabilitation of the candidates”.
However, WAEC has defended its decision to publish the names and photographs, saying examination malpractice was getting sophisticated day by day.
One way to stop such practice, the council said, was to adopt measures that were stringent enough to make candidates desist from such a malpractice.
Mr Appiah said he sanctioned the measures of suspending the candidates from writing the examination for a certain periods, withholding of results and cancellation of papers, among other things, since they were enough punishments for the candidates.
“The practice of publishing the names and photographs is not the best,” he emphasised, pointing out that it would undermine the process of their rehabilitation.
Mr Appiah said Article 28, Section 1 (b) of the 1992 Constitution talked about children and persons receiving protection against exposure to physical and moral hazards.
In addition, he said, under the Welfare Principle of the Children’s Act, the best interest of the child had to be the primary consideration of any court, person, institution or body in any matter concerning the child.
Aside that, he said, Article 29 of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child indicated that state parties should take all appropriate measures to promote physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration of the child victim, among other things.
WAEC had over the last couple of days published the names and photographs of candidates said to have cheated in some of its examinations.
Govt to abolish shift system
Page 1
16-09-09
THE government will abolish the shift system currently being run in basic schools in the country, the Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, has disclosed.
The minister, who expressed shock that the system was still being run after 10 years, indicated that the shift system is not the best and will be abolished once infrastructure and other facilities are put in place.
Mr Tettey-Enyo made this known in an interview with the Daily Graphic yesterday, when he visited some basic schools in Accra for the “My First Day at School” programme to welcome fresh pupils to basic school.
“I thought the shift system had been dealt with 10 years ago. It is not right and would be abolished in due course,” he said when he was told by heads of schools that the system was in operation as a result of inadequate classrooms and other facilities.
According to him, more classrooms and other educational facilities would be provided to cater for the increase in the number of students.
Mr Tettey-Enyo expressed disappointment at the low attendance of pupils on the first day at school, and indicated that the matter would be looked into to see how best to improve attendance.
He believed that school enrolment would improve as the days went by. Heads of schools, however, expressed the hope that attendance would go up as school went into full session.
The schools visited were the Kanda Estate 1 and 4 Primary, The Nima Cluster of Schools, the Kizito RC Primary School and the Five Garrison Schools at Burma Camp.
In an interaction with teachers at the Nima Cluster of Schools, Mr Tettey-Enyo reminded the teachers of their responsibility for ensuring that the children entrusted into their care were given the best of education.
He said the success or failure of the children would depend on the teachers, and appealed to them to give their best as the government took steps to motivate them.
Addressing the media later, he said the free uniform policy was on course while contracts had been awarded for the free exercise books to be delivered to schools sooner or later.
Commenting on the School Feeding Programme, the minister said the contract between the Government of Ghana and the Dutch Government was expected to elapse in April next year, saying that “before it elapses we would try to expand it so that many deprived schools would benefit from it”.
“We hope that by April next year we would find solution to the expansion, since it boosts enrolment,” he said, and stated that the Government would put in place the right strategy to improve the delivery of education in the country.
There was excitement on the part of the pupils as the minister, who was accompanied by the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr Samuel Bannerman-Mensah; the Director of the Basic and Secondary Division of the GES, Mr Stephen Adu, and other officials of the Ministry of Education and the GES distributed caps, crayons and other educational materials to them.
Mr Tettey-Enyo urged the pupils to take their studies seriously and be regular at school, since there was nothing more valuable than education.
Dorothy Appiah, a 10-year-old pupil of the Kanda Estate 1 Primary, told the Daily Graphic that she was excited to be in school. Her ambition in life, she said, was to become a doctor.
At the Burma Camp, Mr Tettey-Enyo and the Minister of Defence, Major Gen J.H. Smith (retd), visited primary school pupils at the Five Garrison Schools.
16-09-09
THE government will abolish the shift system currently being run in basic schools in the country, the Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, has disclosed.
The minister, who expressed shock that the system was still being run after 10 years, indicated that the shift system is not the best and will be abolished once infrastructure and other facilities are put in place.
Mr Tettey-Enyo made this known in an interview with the Daily Graphic yesterday, when he visited some basic schools in Accra for the “My First Day at School” programme to welcome fresh pupils to basic school.
“I thought the shift system had been dealt with 10 years ago. It is not right and would be abolished in due course,” he said when he was told by heads of schools that the system was in operation as a result of inadequate classrooms and other facilities.
According to him, more classrooms and other educational facilities would be provided to cater for the increase in the number of students.
Mr Tettey-Enyo expressed disappointment at the low attendance of pupils on the first day at school, and indicated that the matter would be looked into to see how best to improve attendance.
He believed that school enrolment would improve as the days went by. Heads of schools, however, expressed the hope that attendance would go up as school went into full session.
The schools visited were the Kanda Estate 1 and 4 Primary, The Nima Cluster of Schools, the Kizito RC Primary School and the Five Garrison Schools at Burma Camp.
In an interaction with teachers at the Nima Cluster of Schools, Mr Tettey-Enyo reminded the teachers of their responsibility for ensuring that the children entrusted into their care were given the best of education.
He said the success or failure of the children would depend on the teachers, and appealed to them to give their best as the government took steps to motivate them.
Addressing the media later, he said the free uniform policy was on course while contracts had been awarded for the free exercise books to be delivered to schools sooner or later.
Commenting on the School Feeding Programme, the minister said the contract between the Government of Ghana and the Dutch Government was expected to elapse in April next year, saying that “before it elapses we would try to expand it so that many deprived schools would benefit from it”.
“We hope that by April next year we would find solution to the expansion, since it boosts enrolment,” he said, and stated that the Government would put in place the right strategy to improve the delivery of education in the country.
There was excitement on the part of the pupils as the minister, who was accompanied by the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr Samuel Bannerman-Mensah; the Director of the Basic and Secondary Division of the GES, Mr Stephen Adu, and other officials of the Ministry of Education and the GES distributed caps, crayons and other educational materials to them.
Mr Tettey-Enyo urged the pupils to take their studies seriously and be regular at school, since there was nothing more valuable than education.
Dorothy Appiah, a 10-year-old pupil of the Kanda Estate 1 Primary, told the Daily Graphic that she was excited to be in school. Her ambition in life, she said, was to become a doctor.
At the Burma Camp, Mr Tettey-Enyo and the Minister of Defence, Major Gen J.H. Smith (retd), visited primary school pupils at the Five Garrison Schools.
Caterers To Blame
Page 1 Lead
16-09-09
YESTERDAY’S first day in school for pupils at the basic level, was characterised by turmoil in the implementation of the school feeding programme across the country.
The chaos, which resulted in some schools being fed with extra food while others did not have any at all, also drew a sharp wedge between the National Co-ordinator of the Ghana School Feeding Programme, Mr Michael Nsowah, and the Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Mr Alfred Vanderpuije.
As the situation got messy in Accra, the AMA Chief blamed it on caterers who used to cook for the schools but whose contracts had been abrogated and warned them to desist from causing further confusion.
Mr Vanderpuije, who gave the caution, explained that the behaviour of some of the former caterers could disrupt teaching and learning with reports of some of them taking food to these schools with the escort of ‘macho men’.
He described the activities of those caterers “as illegal to say the least” and warned that “they will be arrested if they do not put a stop to this; we cannot allow unwarranted activities to disrupt school hours”.
But as the confusion assumed a national dimension, engulfing almost all districts, the National Co-ordinator of the programme, Mr Michael Nsowah, challenged the timing of the decision to recruit new caterers for the programme.
He said the timing of the decision was too short and so close to the re-opening of schools for the commencement of the 2009-2010 academic year yesterday.
“Replacing caterers at this time is not the best, since they need to be trained to enable them to provide efficient services,” he said, and indicated that without training they would not be able to deliver according to the guidelines of the programme.
Mr Nsowah said in an interview with the Daily Graphic that before a caterer was recruited, the person needed to be scrutinised very well to ensure that she met the guidelines under the programme.
He said with the current development of replacing them at such short notice, it would be difficult to scrutinise the caterers before they start cooking for the children.
He said caterers needed to know the rules and be prepared in terms of logistics before they start cooking for the children.
Explaining the rationale for the abrogation of contracts for the 44 caterers who worked for the AMA under the programme, Mr Vanderpuije stated that contracts under the school feeding programme were not permanent and that it would be reviewed annually to ensure that those who did not perform were kicked out.
Currently, there are 64 caterers working under the programme for the AMA and are expected to feed some 6,000 pupils with nutritious meal every day.
Until this academic year, the number of pupils fed under the programme for the AMA was about 3,000 but the number, he said, was increased to the current 6,000 to ensure that more children benefited from the programme, still under the pilot stage.
According to Mr Vanderpuije, concerns raised earlier to the effect that the caterers would not be ready to feed the pupils at the re-opening of this year’s academic programme was unwarranted because “food was provided for the school children today”.
Further, Mr Vanderpuije stated that the difficulties associated with the earlier implementation of the programme was as a result of a shift in the guidelines for the national programme by the initial implementers.
The programme was designed to be executed at the district level and not by a secretariat as was been done.
“It is this wrong we want to correct,” he said.
A committee on School Feeding Programme at the AMA of which Mr Vanderpuije is the chairman have met with the new caterers and consequently are aware of what is expected of them.
“If these people also fail to deliver, who says we will not annul their contracts?” he asked.
The pilot for the Ghana National School Feeding Programme was introduced in October 2005 to provide children in public primary schools and kindergartens with one hot nutritious meal, prepared from locally grown foodstuffs.
The idea is aimed at increasing enrolment, attendance and retention at the basic level.
Four years down the line, the programme is still faced with a myriad of challenges of payments for caterers working under the programme, which are often delayed, proper supervision of the quality of food and monitoring.
“Many key stakeholders including district assemblies, education officers and communities have not been involved in decision-making hence their apathy towards the implementation of the Ghana School Feeding Programme,” this was contained in a District Operational Manual for the Programme, signed by the Minister of Local government and Rural Development, Mr Joseph Yieleh Chireh.
16-09-09
YESTERDAY’S first day in school for pupils at the basic level, was characterised by turmoil in the implementation of the school feeding programme across the country.
The chaos, which resulted in some schools being fed with extra food while others did not have any at all, also drew a sharp wedge between the National Co-ordinator of the Ghana School Feeding Programme, Mr Michael Nsowah, and the Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Mr Alfred Vanderpuije.
As the situation got messy in Accra, the AMA Chief blamed it on caterers who used to cook for the schools but whose contracts had been abrogated and warned them to desist from causing further confusion.
Mr Vanderpuije, who gave the caution, explained that the behaviour of some of the former caterers could disrupt teaching and learning with reports of some of them taking food to these schools with the escort of ‘macho men’.
He described the activities of those caterers “as illegal to say the least” and warned that “they will be arrested if they do not put a stop to this; we cannot allow unwarranted activities to disrupt school hours”.
But as the confusion assumed a national dimension, engulfing almost all districts, the National Co-ordinator of the programme, Mr Michael Nsowah, challenged the timing of the decision to recruit new caterers for the programme.
He said the timing of the decision was too short and so close to the re-opening of schools for the commencement of the 2009-2010 academic year yesterday.
“Replacing caterers at this time is not the best, since they need to be trained to enable them to provide efficient services,” he said, and indicated that without training they would not be able to deliver according to the guidelines of the programme.
Mr Nsowah said in an interview with the Daily Graphic that before a caterer was recruited, the person needed to be scrutinised very well to ensure that she met the guidelines under the programme.
He said with the current development of replacing them at such short notice, it would be difficult to scrutinise the caterers before they start cooking for the children.
He said caterers needed to know the rules and be prepared in terms of logistics before they start cooking for the children.
Explaining the rationale for the abrogation of contracts for the 44 caterers who worked for the AMA under the programme, Mr Vanderpuije stated that contracts under the school feeding programme were not permanent and that it would be reviewed annually to ensure that those who did not perform were kicked out.
Currently, there are 64 caterers working under the programme for the AMA and are expected to feed some 6,000 pupils with nutritious meal every day.
Until this academic year, the number of pupils fed under the programme for the AMA was about 3,000 but the number, he said, was increased to the current 6,000 to ensure that more children benefited from the programme, still under the pilot stage.
According to Mr Vanderpuije, concerns raised earlier to the effect that the caterers would not be ready to feed the pupils at the re-opening of this year’s academic programme was unwarranted because “food was provided for the school children today”.
Further, Mr Vanderpuije stated that the difficulties associated with the earlier implementation of the programme was as a result of a shift in the guidelines for the national programme by the initial implementers.
The programme was designed to be executed at the district level and not by a secretariat as was been done.
“It is this wrong we want to correct,” he said.
A committee on School Feeding Programme at the AMA of which Mr Vanderpuije is the chairman have met with the new caterers and consequently are aware of what is expected of them.
“If these people also fail to deliver, who says we will not annul their contracts?” he asked.
The pilot for the Ghana National School Feeding Programme was introduced in October 2005 to provide children in public primary schools and kindergartens with one hot nutritious meal, prepared from locally grown foodstuffs.
The idea is aimed at increasing enrolment, attendance and retention at the basic level.
Four years down the line, the programme is still faced with a myriad of challenges of payments for caterers working under the programme, which are often delayed, proper supervision of the quality of food and monitoring.
“Many key stakeholders including district assemblies, education officers and communities have not been involved in decision-making hence their apathy towards the implementation of the Ghana School Feeding Programme,” this was contained in a District Operational Manual for the Programme, signed by the Minister of Local government and Rural Development, Mr Joseph Yieleh Chireh.
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