28-01-08
Page 11
THE Deputy Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Ms Naana Biney, has said the government will provide the needed environment for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) based educational programmes in schools in the country.
“ICT can be a powerful and essential tool for understanding, interpreting and communicating about the real world. When effectively deployed, it can mitigate teacher shortage and address inequalities in reference to gender, language and disability,” she said.
Ms Biney said this in a keynote address at the 2008 Heads of Schools Summit organised by e-toys & more in Accra last Friday.
The two-day summit provided a unique forum that enabled participants to have access to important global trends in education in order to help them to effect the necessary changes for better results in the country’s educational sector.
Ms Biney indicated that ICT in education was a panacea to accelerate learning, since it was self-directed, self-paced and provided the opportunity for students who were motivated and interested to take more responsibility for learning.
The Co-ordinator of the ICT in Education Programme at the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports, Rev Emmanuel Dadebo, said the country had a commitment to transform all schools into e-schools, with the ultimate goal of training the right type of human resource to drive its development agenda.
He said technology could promote effective instruction that was more student-centred, interdisciplinary, more closely related to real life events and processes and adaptive to individual learning styles.
“The capacity of ICT to reach students in any place and at any time has the potential to promote revolutionary changes in the traditional educational paradigm. First, it eliminates the premise that learning time equals classroom time,” he said.
The Executive Vice-President of e-toys & more, Mrs Theresa Sackey, said throughout the world ICT had become a major driving force and an important tool for promoting development, combating poverty and facilitating the integration of developing countries into the global economy.
He said the summit was taking place at an important time, adding that “in our quest to ensure that all the needs of our schools are met, we have added more innovative solutions to benefit the schools”.
“These include schools building and expansion solutions, schools SMS communication, as well as electronic board. We also continue to upgrade our e-learning centres with very powerful educational software, broad band Internet facilities, as well as the e-schools administrator, for effective school management,” she explained.
The Executive President of e-toys and more, Mr George Sackey Jnr, underscored the need for educational marketing on the part of school administrators.
That, he said, was to ensure that they attracted the right target groups.
Addressing participants on meeting the emotional needs of school children, Mrs Flora Sackey, who is a counsellor in that aspect, said children must be encouraged in all that they did to uplift their spirits and regain their self esteem.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Forum on public procurement held
28-01-08
Page 38
THE Public Procurement Authority (PPA) has embarked on a move to adopt a sustainable public procurement (SPP) approach aimed at ensuring that public funds are spent on projects that foster sustainable development in the country.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the PPA, Mr Adjenim Boateng Adjei, who made this known, said with sustainable issues becoming vital in the development agenda of nations, it was time to shift the focus of government procurement from mainly economic advantages to SPP systems which resulted in long-term benefits .
Mr Adjei said this in Accra on Thursday at a forum to introduce the concept of SPP to key stakeholders and establish a task force to manage the country’s SPP approach.
He said the task force, which would comprise representatives from civil society, the Trades Union Congress (TUC), industry, commerce, the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), among other groups, aimed at bringing SPP on stream in the country.
Mr Adjei said the functions of the task force included drawing up an implementation plan, carrying out public education on SPP and identifying procurement that had significant sustainability issues. It would also infuse SPP issues into the existing procurement process and establish indicators to measure SPP operations and impact.
“SPP implementation will not be without challenges; there will be hurdles to be surmounted,” he said, adding that they included getting a reasonable budget, the availability of SPP compliance inspectors, a legal framework and contractors.
He indicated that SPP was one major way of seeking to achieve the good governance goal of realising development that gave priority to the poor, advanced women, sustained the environment and created the needed opportunities for employment and other livelihoods.
Mr Adjei stated that government procurement needed to consider sustainability issues, as it was the only way it could be sure to offer real value for money over a long term, without compromising environmental and social responsibilities, adding that “this will ensure that development targets are achieved through the acquisition of goods, works and services”.
He said with the government being the largest single buyer, it was evident that what and how it bought and acquired goods and services contributed significantly to its ability to deliver sustainable development, saying that many countries used public procurement as a technique for tackling social disadvantage and exclusion.
“The PPA, being the only African representative on the Marrakech Task Force on SPP, has the responsibility of leading the implementation of SPP in Ghana and Africa. Ghana stands to benefit in the long term if SPP is implemented,” he explained.
,
Page 38
THE Public Procurement Authority (PPA) has embarked on a move to adopt a sustainable public procurement (SPP) approach aimed at ensuring that public funds are spent on projects that foster sustainable development in the country.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the PPA, Mr Adjenim Boateng Adjei, who made this known, said with sustainable issues becoming vital in the development agenda of nations, it was time to shift the focus of government procurement from mainly economic advantages to SPP systems which resulted in long-term benefits .
Mr Adjei said this in Accra on Thursday at a forum to introduce the concept of SPP to key stakeholders and establish a task force to manage the country’s SPP approach.
He said the task force, which would comprise representatives from civil society, the Trades Union Congress (TUC), industry, commerce, the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), among other groups, aimed at bringing SPP on stream in the country.
Mr Adjei said the functions of the task force included drawing up an implementation plan, carrying out public education on SPP and identifying procurement that had significant sustainability issues. It would also infuse SPP issues into the existing procurement process and establish indicators to measure SPP operations and impact.
“SPP implementation will not be without challenges; there will be hurdles to be surmounted,” he said, adding that they included getting a reasonable budget, the availability of SPP compliance inspectors, a legal framework and contractors.
He indicated that SPP was one major way of seeking to achieve the good governance goal of realising development that gave priority to the poor, advanced women, sustained the environment and created the needed opportunities for employment and other livelihoods.
Mr Adjei stated that government procurement needed to consider sustainability issues, as it was the only way it could be sure to offer real value for money over a long term, without compromising environmental and social responsibilities, adding that “this will ensure that development targets are achieved through the acquisition of goods, works and services”.
He said with the government being the largest single buyer, it was evident that what and how it bought and acquired goods and services contributed significantly to its ability to deliver sustainable development, saying that many countries used public procurement as a technique for tackling social disadvantage and exclusion.
“The PPA, being the only African representative on the Marrakech Task Force on SPP, has the responsibility of leading the implementation of SPP in Ghana and Africa. Ghana stands to benefit in the long term if SPP is implemented,” he explained.
,
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
RME to be re-introduced
Page 3
March 11, 2008
Religious and Moral Education (RME) is to be re-introduced as a separate subject at the basic education level with effect from the next academic year, the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports has announced.
The sector Minister, Prof Dominic Fobih, who made this known in an interview with the Daily Graphic, said the Curriculum Research and Development Division (CRDD) of the ministry was working with the religious bodies to develop the syllabus for the subject.
He said RME was not abolished under the educational reform but integrated into other subjects, adding, “It will now be made to stand on its own.”
According to him, the ministry was open to suggestions from the public on issues about education, saying, “We are a listening ministry.”
The Catholic Bishops Conference, in a communiqué issued in Kumasi in November last year after its meeting, called on the government to re-introduce RME as a subject, instead of a concept, in the school curriculum.
According to the Bishops, “sidelining religion and morality from education is tantamount to condemning the human person to a lack of means to develop himself or herself fully to be a human being in the society”.
The position of the Bishops attracted other voices concerning the non-inclusion of RME in the school curriculum, particularly from the Christian and Muslim communities.
Following the outcry over the matter, President Kufuor directed the ministry to facilitate a dialogue among the stakeholders of the educational sector to resolve the controversy over the teaching of the subject.
As a result, a 29-member committee, under the chairmanship of Prof Anamuah-Mensah, a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba, was convened at the instance of the sector minister to take a second look at the teaching of RME as a subject at the basic level.
President Kufuor, in his Independence Day address, said the government had decided to revisit the reinstatement of RME on the school curriculum.
Prof Fobih said the ministry was going to carry out what the President had requested.
March 11, 2008
Religious and Moral Education (RME) is to be re-introduced as a separate subject at the basic education level with effect from the next academic year, the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports has announced.
The sector Minister, Prof Dominic Fobih, who made this known in an interview with the Daily Graphic, said the Curriculum Research and Development Division (CRDD) of the ministry was working with the religious bodies to develop the syllabus for the subject.
He said RME was not abolished under the educational reform but integrated into other subjects, adding, “It will now be made to stand on its own.”
According to him, the ministry was open to suggestions from the public on issues about education, saying, “We are a listening ministry.”
The Catholic Bishops Conference, in a communiqué issued in Kumasi in November last year after its meeting, called on the government to re-introduce RME as a subject, instead of a concept, in the school curriculum.
According to the Bishops, “sidelining religion and morality from education is tantamount to condemning the human person to a lack of means to develop himself or herself fully to be a human being in the society”.
The position of the Bishops attracted other voices concerning the non-inclusion of RME in the school curriculum, particularly from the Christian and Muslim communities.
Following the outcry over the matter, President Kufuor directed the ministry to facilitate a dialogue among the stakeholders of the educational sector to resolve the controversy over the teaching of the subject.
As a result, a 29-member committee, under the chairmanship of Prof Anamuah-Mensah, a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba, was convened at the instance of the sector minister to take a second look at the teaching of RME as a subject at the basic level.
President Kufuor, in his Independence Day address, said the government had decided to revisit the reinstatement of RME on the school curriculum.
Prof Fobih said the ministry was going to carry out what the President had requested.
State funding of political parties-It's Not The Answer
Front Page
March 11,2008
A Ghanaian political scientist, Prof Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, has stated that the suggestion to dedicate a certain percentage of taxes to fund political parties should be carefully thought through because other constitutional bodies equally need funding.
“Will this mean that we raise additional taxes or we annex a percentage of the existing tax revenue? Will that come at the expense of other public goods that are funded from tax revenue, such as the school feeding programme, the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme or the Northern Development Fund?” he asked in an interview with the Daily Graphic yesterday.
According to him, Ghanaians must be careful not to set up a chain reaction in which a percentage of tax revenue would be specifically attached to a long list of equally important public goods.
Prof Gyimah-Boadi, a Political Science Professor at the University of Ghana, Legon, and Executive Director of the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD - Ghana), was reacting to proposals made by four political parties and the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) that the state should fund political parties.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP), the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and the People’s National Convention (PNC), under the umbrella of the Ghana Political Parties Programme (GPPP) and the IEA, are expected to launch the proposal for state funding of political parties tomorrow.
Prof Gyimah-Boadi noted that there were fundamental issues to consider in order to place the idea of state funding of political parties in a proper perspective, adding that there was a general problem of unfunded mandates “in our current democratic governance arrangements”.
He said the 1992 Constitution imposed significant obligations on political parties to undertake key democratic governance functions but made no clear provisions for their financing.
Prof Gyimah-Boadi noted that political parties shared that predicament with other public and quasi-public agencies such as the media, adding that the media were also assigned a crucial role in democratic governance in the Fourth Republic “but without a clear idea of its funding”.
“We must take together the challenge of how to fund Ghanaian political parties, the media, civil society and all other key agencies that are crucial to the effective functioning of our system of democratic governance,” he emphasised.
Another difficult challenge, he said, was the chronic weakness experienced by key constitutional bodies such as the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Parliament, the Judiciary, among other bodies.
Prof Gyimah-Boadi indicated that those bodies were explicitly mandated to charge their expenditure to the Consolidated Fund but suffered “chronic lack of funding”.
He said the Electoral Commission had suffered the same fate and, “like the others, it has typically depended substantially on foreign donors”.
“At the very least, we must come up with a credible formula for funding these constitutional bodies,” he suggested, and said there was the need to find creative ways of addressing the challenge of funding political parties and in a manner that was also sustainable.
He described the issue of state funding of political parties as a great idea because it was essential for sustained multi-party democracy.
“As an ardent advocate of democracy and democratic governance, I fully support it in principle and would want to see it in practice,” he stated.
He welcomed the draft legislation which was seeking to provide a legal basis and framework for the funding of political parties, adding, “We welcome and await the tabling of this draft legislation in Parliament so that we and the members of the public can have the opportunity to review it, make inputs into it and hopefully help to render the legislation fully credible and implementable.”
March 11,2008
A Ghanaian political scientist, Prof Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, has stated that the suggestion to dedicate a certain percentage of taxes to fund political parties should be carefully thought through because other constitutional bodies equally need funding.
“Will this mean that we raise additional taxes or we annex a percentage of the existing tax revenue? Will that come at the expense of other public goods that are funded from tax revenue, such as the school feeding programme, the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme or the Northern Development Fund?” he asked in an interview with the Daily Graphic yesterday.
According to him, Ghanaians must be careful not to set up a chain reaction in which a percentage of tax revenue would be specifically attached to a long list of equally important public goods.
Prof Gyimah-Boadi, a Political Science Professor at the University of Ghana, Legon, and Executive Director of the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD - Ghana), was reacting to proposals made by four political parties and the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) that the state should fund political parties.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP), the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and the People’s National Convention (PNC), under the umbrella of the Ghana Political Parties Programme (GPPP) and the IEA, are expected to launch the proposal for state funding of political parties tomorrow.
Prof Gyimah-Boadi noted that there were fundamental issues to consider in order to place the idea of state funding of political parties in a proper perspective, adding that there was a general problem of unfunded mandates “in our current democratic governance arrangements”.
He said the 1992 Constitution imposed significant obligations on political parties to undertake key democratic governance functions but made no clear provisions for their financing.
Prof Gyimah-Boadi noted that political parties shared that predicament with other public and quasi-public agencies such as the media, adding that the media were also assigned a crucial role in democratic governance in the Fourth Republic “but without a clear idea of its funding”.
“We must take together the challenge of how to fund Ghanaian political parties, the media, civil society and all other key agencies that are crucial to the effective functioning of our system of democratic governance,” he emphasised.
Another difficult challenge, he said, was the chronic weakness experienced by key constitutional bodies such as the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Parliament, the Judiciary, among other bodies.
Prof Gyimah-Boadi indicated that those bodies were explicitly mandated to charge their expenditure to the Consolidated Fund but suffered “chronic lack of funding”.
He said the Electoral Commission had suffered the same fate and, “like the others, it has typically depended substantially on foreign donors”.
“At the very least, we must come up with a credible formula for funding these constitutional bodies,” he suggested, and said there was the need to find creative ways of addressing the challenge of funding political parties and in a manner that was also sustainable.
He described the issue of state funding of political parties as a great idea because it was essential for sustained multi-party democracy.
“As an ardent advocate of democracy and democratic governance, I fully support it in principle and would want to see it in practice,” he stated.
He welcomed the draft legislation which was seeking to provide a legal basis and framework for the funding of political parties, adding, “We welcome and await the tabling of this draft legislation in Parliament so that we and the members of the public can have the opportunity to review it, make inputs into it and hopefully help to render the legislation fully credible and implementable.”
Accountant General's action harsh-NAGRAT
Page 24
March 4, 2008
THE National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) has described the decision of the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) to deduct the overpaid salary arrears of teachers from their February salaries as harsh.
NAGRAT said the action by the CAGD would create hardship for the affected teachers.
The President of NAGRAT, Mr Kwame Alorvi, who said this in an interview, noted that the association had planned to suggest to the CAGD to deduct the money over a six-month period when it got wind of the problem.
He said the problem was not the fault of teachers and so they should not be punished for it.
He stated that apart from the fact that the deduction would affect the March salaries of affected teachers, it would worsen the plight of the teachers over the period.
Mr Alorvi said when the salary negotiation for 2007 was concluded, the government paid 90 per cent of the negotiated salary, leaving a remainder of 10 per cent, which was paid later in January instead of December.
Explaining what accounted for the problem, he said in the process of keying in the data on teachers, a power outage occurred and when it was restored, it was realised during the re-keying that some of the names of teachers were captured twice.
“That was what I was told,” he said, adding that the association was, therefore, expecting a meeting on how the monies were going to be deducted from the salaries of those who were overpaid.
Mr Alorvi indicated that “we were going to suggest that the deduction be done over a period of six months, but a meeting was not convened on the matter”.
He disagreed with the Controller and Accountant General that the system could not spread the overpayment over months, since it was being operated manually.
He said it was only last Thursday that the Chief Director of the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports told him that the CAGD had decided to deduct the monies in February and March.
Mr Alorvi said when he got to the Ghana Education Service (GES) he was given the names of 19,000 teachers who were to forgo their salaries in February and March.
He, however, appealed to teachers to remain calm.
The Daily Graphic in its Saturday, March 1, 2008 edition, published that about 19,000 teachers who were overpaid salary arrears in January as a result of data error into the national payroll system were to refund the amount involved through direct deduction from their February salaries.
The Controller and Accountant General, Mr Christian Sottie, told a workers’ durbar at Ho that the system could not spread the overpayment over months and that those who enjoyed the payment should be well-informed of what was ahead of them.
March 4, 2008
THE National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) has described the decision of the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) to deduct the overpaid salary arrears of teachers from their February salaries as harsh.
NAGRAT said the action by the CAGD would create hardship for the affected teachers.
The President of NAGRAT, Mr Kwame Alorvi, who said this in an interview, noted that the association had planned to suggest to the CAGD to deduct the money over a six-month period when it got wind of the problem.
He said the problem was not the fault of teachers and so they should not be punished for it.
He stated that apart from the fact that the deduction would affect the March salaries of affected teachers, it would worsen the plight of the teachers over the period.
Mr Alorvi said when the salary negotiation for 2007 was concluded, the government paid 90 per cent of the negotiated salary, leaving a remainder of 10 per cent, which was paid later in January instead of December.
Explaining what accounted for the problem, he said in the process of keying in the data on teachers, a power outage occurred and when it was restored, it was realised during the re-keying that some of the names of teachers were captured twice.
“That was what I was told,” he said, adding that the association was, therefore, expecting a meeting on how the monies were going to be deducted from the salaries of those who were overpaid.
Mr Alorvi indicated that “we were going to suggest that the deduction be done over a period of six months, but a meeting was not convened on the matter”.
He disagreed with the Controller and Accountant General that the system could not spread the overpayment over months, since it was being operated manually.
He said it was only last Thursday that the Chief Director of the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports told him that the CAGD had decided to deduct the monies in February and March.
Mr Alorvi said when he got to the Ghana Education Service (GES) he was given the names of 19,000 teachers who were to forgo their salaries in February and March.
He, however, appealed to teachers to remain calm.
The Daily Graphic in its Saturday, March 1, 2008 edition, published that about 19,000 teachers who were overpaid salary arrears in January as a result of data error into the national payroll system were to refund the amount involved through direct deduction from their February salaries.
The Controller and Accountant General, Mr Christian Sottie, told a workers’ durbar at Ho that the system could not spread the overpayment over months and that those who enjoyed the payment should be well-informed of what was ahead of them.
Female phone thieves arrested
Page 3
Feb 23, 2008
LUCK ran out for two female mobile phone thieves at Adabraka last Thursday morning when they were apprehended by residents of the area.
The two, aged 17 and about 25 were forced to surrender the phone they stole from a hairdressing saloon when they were given some beatings.
It took the timely intervention of other residents in the area to save the two from severe beatings.
One of them gave her name as Paulina, 17 while the other suspected to be about 25 years old failed to mention her name.
The owner of the saloon, Ms Abigail Lakotowa, told The Mirror that the two approached her at about 9 am with some plastic plates which they claimed they were selling.
According to her, when she told them that she just reported for work and therefore did not have money, they insisted that she bought the plates.
She said as she spoke to the other, Paulina went to stand in front of the mirror where she had placed her phone.
“A few minutes after the two left, I realised that my phone was nowhere to be found. I dashed out of the saloon and raised an alarm forcing the two to take to their heels,” she said, adding that some young men in the area gave the two a hot chase and apprehended them.
When The Mirror team got to the scene, the two were being jostled with occasional slaps in an attempt to retrieve the phone.
Looking at the crowd gathering, coupled with threats of severe beating and being stripped naked, Paulina surrendered the phone.
One of them who was stripped off her blouse and brassier was whisked away in a taxi while the other was allowed to go.
Paulina told The Mirror that they came from Madina, but went to the area to sell plastic plates.
Feb 23, 2008
LUCK ran out for two female mobile phone thieves at Adabraka last Thursday morning when they were apprehended by residents of the area.
The two, aged 17 and about 25 were forced to surrender the phone they stole from a hairdressing saloon when they were given some beatings.
It took the timely intervention of other residents in the area to save the two from severe beatings.
One of them gave her name as Paulina, 17 while the other suspected to be about 25 years old failed to mention her name.
The owner of the saloon, Ms Abigail Lakotowa, told The Mirror that the two approached her at about 9 am with some plastic plates which they claimed they were selling.
According to her, when she told them that she just reported for work and therefore did not have money, they insisted that she bought the plates.
She said as she spoke to the other, Paulina went to stand in front of the mirror where she had placed her phone.
“A few minutes after the two left, I realised that my phone was nowhere to be found. I dashed out of the saloon and raised an alarm forcing the two to take to their heels,” she said, adding that some young men in the area gave the two a hot chase and apprehended them.
When The Mirror team got to the scene, the two were being jostled with occasional slaps in an attempt to retrieve the phone.
Looking at the crowd gathering, coupled with threats of severe beating and being stripped naked, Paulina surrendered the phone.
One of them who was stripped off her blouse and brassier was whisked away in a taxi while the other was allowed to go.
Paulina told The Mirror that they came from Madina, but went to the area to sell plastic plates.
Electronic payment of school fees launched
Page 32
Feb 23, 2008
AN electronic payment system to ensure the smooth payment of school fees in second cycle institutions has been launched in Accra.
Known as E-Transact, the system seeks to eliminate the numerous challenges parents and students face in the payment of school fees.
It was launched by a consortium of seven banks — namely Barclays Bank, GT Bank, Intercontinental Bank, Unibank, United Bank of Africa, Zenith Bank, Amal Bank — and Busy Internet.
The Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr Samuel Bannerman-Mensah, who launched the initiative, said “though there has been a lot of improvement in the educational front with regard to access, quality, gender parity and the management of resources, there is still room for improvement”.
He noted that the government alone could not carry the financial burden of providing quality education, making it imperative for others contribute to the cost of education.
He said cash transactions faced some problems including the danger of losing the cash on the way to school, counting errors, fake currency and the tendency of students to make use of the cash on frivolous spending.
He said because of the number of banks involved in the project, speedy, efficient and secured payment would be guaranteed at all times.
“Unlike the banker’s draft the payment charges are relatively lower and fixed across all the payment points,” he added.
The Director-General urged school authorities to cooperate with the banks to ensure a successful delivery of the service by way of giving correct data and pledged the support of the GES to the initiative.
The Deputy Managing Director of Intercontinental Bank, Mr Lolu Akindele, said the initiative would transform the rigorous payment process parents and students went through in paying fees.
He said ”almost all processes involved in school fees payment, from collection to reconciliation, are largely manual, even for most tertiary and modern-day institutions”.
He said the E-Transact payment was equipped with not just card-based transactions for the public but also raw cash-based payments such as collection of fees and revenue at teller posts referred to as pay outlet.
The President of the Conference of Heads of Secondary Schools (CHASS), Mr Samuel Ofori Adjei, stressed the need for the system to be extended to the rural areas.
He called on the banks to educate parents on the system through the parent-teacher associations.
Schools which do not have internet facilities would enjoy the provision of computer with internet connectivity for teachers and students, which would aid the monitoring of payments made online by parents and students.
Feb 23, 2008
AN electronic payment system to ensure the smooth payment of school fees in second cycle institutions has been launched in Accra.
Known as E-Transact, the system seeks to eliminate the numerous challenges parents and students face in the payment of school fees.
It was launched by a consortium of seven banks — namely Barclays Bank, GT Bank, Intercontinental Bank, Unibank, United Bank of Africa, Zenith Bank, Amal Bank — and Busy Internet.
The Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr Samuel Bannerman-Mensah, who launched the initiative, said “though there has been a lot of improvement in the educational front with regard to access, quality, gender parity and the management of resources, there is still room for improvement”.
He noted that the government alone could not carry the financial burden of providing quality education, making it imperative for others contribute to the cost of education.
He said cash transactions faced some problems including the danger of losing the cash on the way to school, counting errors, fake currency and the tendency of students to make use of the cash on frivolous spending.
He said because of the number of banks involved in the project, speedy, efficient and secured payment would be guaranteed at all times.
“Unlike the banker’s draft the payment charges are relatively lower and fixed across all the payment points,” he added.
The Director-General urged school authorities to cooperate with the banks to ensure a successful delivery of the service by way of giving correct data and pledged the support of the GES to the initiative.
The Deputy Managing Director of Intercontinental Bank, Mr Lolu Akindele, said the initiative would transform the rigorous payment process parents and students went through in paying fees.
He said ”almost all processes involved in school fees payment, from collection to reconciliation, are largely manual, even for most tertiary and modern-day institutions”.
He said the E-Transact payment was equipped with not just card-based transactions for the public but also raw cash-based payments such as collection of fees and revenue at teller posts referred to as pay outlet.
The President of the Conference of Heads of Secondary Schools (CHASS), Mr Samuel Ofori Adjei, stressed the need for the system to be extended to the rural areas.
He called on the banks to educate parents on the system through the parent-teacher associations.
Schools which do not have internet facilities would enjoy the provision of computer with internet connectivity for teachers and students, which would aid the monitoring of payments made online by parents and students.
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