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
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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.”
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