August 29, 2009
AN education expert, Prof. Jophus Anamuah-Mensah, has identified the lack of effective supervision and monitoring as key factors that contribute to the poor performance of Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) candidates.
He also said the lack of motivation for teachers and inadequate number of qualified teachers to fill empty classrooms were other factors.He was reacting to a Daily Graphic publication in the August 27, 2009 edition of the paper that said just a little over 50 per cent of the 2009 BECE candidates qualified for placement into senior high and technical schools.
He stressed the need for the Ghana Education Service (GES) to step up its supervision and monitoring activities, and cited the impressive performance of some candidates of private schools which had been as a result of effective supervision and monitoring.
Prof. Anamuah-Mensah said in as much as parents were partly to be blamed for the poor performance of candidates at the BECE, the biggest blame should go to the Ministry of Education and the GES.
“You have circuit supervisors complaining that they cannot undertake monitoring and supervision because they do not have transport facilities, such as motorbikes or other vehicles,” he said, and underscored the need for such personalities to be provided with the needed resources to work effectively.
He said the government should invest more in education through the provision of teaching-learning materials, infrastructure and the motivation of teachers, among other things.
Prof. Anamuah-Mensah described the perennial failure of BECE candidates as a “crisis situation” that needed urgent attention, saying that “adequate measures should be put in place to address the problem, since failure to do that would not augur well for the country”.
“We need to wake up because when children roam the streets without employable skills they become armed robbers and engage in cyberfraud (sakawa),” he warned.
Meanwhile, the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) says teachers, students, parents and the government have a greater role to play in improving the performance of candidates.
GNAT said it was incumbent upon the stakeholders mentioned to play their individual roles, since the failure of anyone of them to do so would not help in solving the problem.
“All of them must perform for us to achieve the desired results,” the President of GNAT, Mr Joseph Adjei, told the Daily Graphic.
He said while the government had to provide the needed infrastructure, teaching and learning materials, teachers needed to be motivated to offer their best, while parents needed to ensure that they monitored the academic activities of their children, who also had to take their studies seriously.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Maths camp students visit Ghana Planetarium
Page 11
August 31, 2009
SENIOR High School students who attended the vacation camp at the Meagasa Mathematics Academy at Lashibi visited the Ghana Planetarium at Osu as part of their mathematics camp activities.
The trip was to enable the students to appreciate the relationship between mathematics and real life situation.
According to the Founder and Executive Director of the Academy, Prof. S.E. Anku, the educational tour was organised to motivate students to see the relevance of mathematics to astronomy, and for that matter, its relevance to everyday activities.
During the two-week camp, students were taken through very extensive experiences, with mathematics covering conceptual development in the morning, hands-on practical activities in the afternoon and problem solving in the evening.
The students created several shapes using paper, derived mathematical formulae through practical activities, created several patterns for the textile industry, using mathematics and worked in teams to solve different puzzles, including those that involved criminal investigations.
Speaking at the closing ceremony for the two-week camp, Prof. Anku announced the commencement of a residential camp for junior high school and primary 4-6 students, beginning from Sunday, August 30 to Saturday, September 12, 2009.
He urged school authorities to give students the opportunity to embark on educational trips which would provide them the opportunity to relate mathematics to real life situation.
Prof. Anku asked students to take their studies seriously and desist from spending their time watching television, playing video games, among other things, which affected their studies negatively.
Prof. Anku also advised teachers to upgrade themselves.
August 31, 2009
SENIOR High School students who attended the vacation camp at the Meagasa Mathematics Academy at Lashibi visited the Ghana Planetarium at Osu as part of their mathematics camp activities.
The trip was to enable the students to appreciate the relationship between mathematics and real life situation.
According to the Founder and Executive Director of the Academy, Prof. S.E. Anku, the educational tour was organised to motivate students to see the relevance of mathematics to astronomy, and for that matter, its relevance to everyday activities.
During the two-week camp, students were taken through very extensive experiences, with mathematics covering conceptual development in the morning, hands-on practical activities in the afternoon and problem solving in the evening.
The students created several shapes using paper, derived mathematical formulae through practical activities, created several patterns for the textile industry, using mathematics and worked in teams to solve different puzzles, including those that involved criminal investigations.
Speaking at the closing ceremony for the two-week camp, Prof. Anku announced the commencement of a residential camp for junior high school and primary 4-6 students, beginning from Sunday, August 30 to Saturday, September 12, 2009.
He urged school authorities to give students the opportunity to embark on educational trips which would provide them the opportunity to relate mathematics to real life situation.
Prof. Anku asked students to take their studies seriously and desist from spending their time watching television, playing video games, among other things, which affected their studies negatively.
Prof. Anku also advised teachers to upgrade themselves.
Institutions of higher learning must collaborate
Page 11
August 31, 2009
THE Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, has called on institutions of higher learning in Africa to collaborate in finding solutions to their problems.
He identified low enrolment ratios, weak infrastructure to support Information and Communication Technology (ICT), ageing faculties, brain drain, unsustainable financial schemes and weak linkage of programmes, among other things, as some of the problems confronting higher educational institutions on the continent.
Mr Tettey-Enyo made the call at the weekend when he opened the Africa-United States Higher Educational Initiative Partners conference in Accra.
The two-day conference was on the theme: “Reshaping Human and International Capacity Building through Higher Education Partnerships”.
It was organised by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Association of African Universities (AAU) and Higher Education for Development (HED).
Mr Tettey-Enyo said higher education institutions were the hope for the re-engineering and empowering of African countries to overcome problems confronting the continent, saying that the institutions “are reservoirs for skilled human resources for socio-economic development of the continent”.
He, therefore, called for the building of capacities of higher education institutions to operate to their maximum capacity for the development of the continent.
“I am confident that the deliberations and recommendations arising out of the conference will go a long way to strengthen the Africa-US partnership, as well as partnerships within African institutions of higher education in sub-Saharan Africa in particular and Africa in general,” he said.
The US Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Donald G. Teitelbaum, said universities provided opportunities for a generation to do better than the previous.
Africa, he said, was ready for a new wave of social mobility through which economic progress provided a wave of opportunities.
“We are here to build an Africa where what is important is not where you come from but what you aspire to become, not whom you know but what you know. It must be an Africa where everyone, no matter their backgrounds, should be able to rise as far as their talents can take them and where everyone can make the most of the potential they have,” he said.
Mr Teitelbaum said there was the need to look at the potential genius of the children of Africa, the potential scientists, the creativity of artists, the skills of future physicians and the strength in engineering.
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. C.N.B. Tagoe, stressed the need for African institutions to work together in addressing the challenges of the continent.
August 31, 2009
THE Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, has called on institutions of higher learning in Africa to collaborate in finding solutions to their problems.
He identified low enrolment ratios, weak infrastructure to support Information and Communication Technology (ICT), ageing faculties, brain drain, unsustainable financial schemes and weak linkage of programmes, among other things, as some of the problems confronting higher educational institutions on the continent.
Mr Tettey-Enyo made the call at the weekend when he opened the Africa-United States Higher Educational Initiative Partners conference in Accra.
The two-day conference was on the theme: “Reshaping Human and International Capacity Building through Higher Education Partnerships”.
It was organised by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Association of African Universities (AAU) and Higher Education for Development (HED).
Mr Tettey-Enyo said higher education institutions were the hope for the re-engineering and empowering of African countries to overcome problems confronting the continent, saying that the institutions “are reservoirs for skilled human resources for socio-economic development of the continent”.
He, therefore, called for the building of capacities of higher education institutions to operate to their maximum capacity for the development of the continent.
“I am confident that the deliberations and recommendations arising out of the conference will go a long way to strengthen the Africa-US partnership, as well as partnerships within African institutions of higher education in sub-Saharan Africa in particular and Africa in general,” he said.
The US Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Donald G. Teitelbaum, said universities provided opportunities for a generation to do better than the previous.
Africa, he said, was ready for a new wave of social mobility through which economic progress provided a wave of opportunities.
“We are here to build an Africa where what is important is not where you come from but what you aspire to become, not whom you know but what you know. It must be an Africa where everyone, no matter their backgrounds, should be able to rise as far as their talents can take them and where everyone can make the most of the potential they have,” he said.
Mr Teitelbaum said there was the need to look at the potential genius of the children of Africa, the potential scientists, the creativity of artists, the skills of future physicians and the strength in engineering.
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. C.N.B. Tagoe, stressed the need for African institutions to work together in addressing the challenges of the continent.
Board to advise govt on tariffs inaugurated
Page 14
9-03-09
A five-member Tariff Advisory Board which will advise the government on the determination and imposition of tariffs has been inaugurated in Accra.
The board would ensure that there are clear guidelines, procedures and appropriate legislation for the determination and implementation of trade contingency measures such as anti-dumping.
It is chaired by Mr Tawia Akyea, Secretary of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA). The members are: Mrs Ama Jantuah Banful, Chief State Attorney; Dr (Mrs) Adelaide Kastner, a lecturer at the University of Ghana; Dr Ben Hagan, Director of the Institute of Industrial Research and Dr Dominic Ayine, a lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ghana.
Inaugurating the board, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Hannah Tetteh, said it would provide the capacity to generate the depth of analysis required to substantiate claims consistent with international trade rules.
She said the board which would operate for three years, would metamorphosed into the Ghana International Trade Commission to perform the same functions.
She said the Tariff Advisory Board came out of the Ghana Trade Policy, “to provide clear and transparent guidelines for the actions of government in the trade sector and also increase the access to competitiveness of Ghanaian business in international and domestic markets”.
Ms Tetteh said the establishment of the board was to strengthen institutional arrangements for tariff review and determination of trade contingency measures.
“In addition, it will serve as the focal point for collating and analysing information and data to guide decisions on tariff-related issues. The board, therefore, will fill a vacuum in the Ghana Trade Policy that has limited the ability of government to take advantage of remedies provided under the World Trade Organisation,” she said.
She said the establishment of the board reaffirmed the determination of government to create the infrastructure that would enhance the performance of the sector without anything untoward from foreign companies and their governments.
Ms Tetteh said the ministry was determined to support both domestic and foreign companies as long as they operated within the stipulated rules and regulations, adding that “a cursory examination of the functions of the board indicates that it can be effective only when manufacturers are prepared to provide accurate and relevant data on their operations”.
She mentioned the Department for International Development, the German Technical Corporation (GTZ), the World Bank and the Danish International Development Agency, for contributing to the pool fund in support of some activities of the board.
Representatives of the organisation commended the government for the establishment of the board.
The President of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Mr Tony Oteng-Gyasi, described the scientific basis for the determination of tariff as laudable.
“Let us try to avoid exemptions through executive instruments,” he cautioned.
9-03-09
A five-member Tariff Advisory Board which will advise the government on the determination and imposition of tariffs has been inaugurated in Accra.
The board would ensure that there are clear guidelines, procedures and appropriate legislation for the determination and implementation of trade contingency measures such as anti-dumping.
It is chaired by Mr Tawia Akyea, Secretary of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA). The members are: Mrs Ama Jantuah Banful, Chief State Attorney; Dr (Mrs) Adelaide Kastner, a lecturer at the University of Ghana; Dr Ben Hagan, Director of the Institute of Industrial Research and Dr Dominic Ayine, a lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ghana.
Inaugurating the board, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Hannah Tetteh, said it would provide the capacity to generate the depth of analysis required to substantiate claims consistent with international trade rules.
She said the board which would operate for three years, would metamorphosed into the Ghana International Trade Commission to perform the same functions.
She said the Tariff Advisory Board came out of the Ghana Trade Policy, “to provide clear and transparent guidelines for the actions of government in the trade sector and also increase the access to competitiveness of Ghanaian business in international and domestic markets”.
Ms Tetteh said the establishment of the board was to strengthen institutional arrangements for tariff review and determination of trade contingency measures.
“In addition, it will serve as the focal point for collating and analysing information and data to guide decisions on tariff-related issues. The board, therefore, will fill a vacuum in the Ghana Trade Policy that has limited the ability of government to take advantage of remedies provided under the World Trade Organisation,” she said.
She said the establishment of the board reaffirmed the determination of government to create the infrastructure that would enhance the performance of the sector without anything untoward from foreign companies and their governments.
Ms Tetteh said the ministry was determined to support both domestic and foreign companies as long as they operated within the stipulated rules and regulations, adding that “a cursory examination of the functions of the board indicates that it can be effective only when manufacturers are prepared to provide accurate and relevant data on their operations”.
She mentioned the Department for International Development, the German Technical Corporation (GTZ), the World Bank and the Danish International Development Agency, for contributing to the pool fund in support of some activities of the board.
Representatives of the organisation commended the government for the establishment of the board.
The President of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Mr Tony Oteng-Gyasi, described the scientific basis for the determination of tariff as laudable.
“Let us try to avoid exemptions through executive instruments,” he cautioned.
Agbogbloshie residents reactivate watchdog group
Page 45
9-03-09
RESIDENTS of Agbogbloshie have reactivated a community watchdog group to work closely with the police to prevent the occasional outbreak of violence in the area.
The move is part of measures being adopted by the residents to bring about peace at Agbogbloshie.
Addressing the press yesterday, the Spokesperson of the Old Fadama Development Association, Mr Philip Kumah, said in its quest to ensure peaceful co-existence, People’s Dialogue, an NGO, in collaboration of the association, would set up a mediation centre within the community to find solutions to petty squabbles which could otherwise degenerate into violence.
The centre, he said, would be manned by religious and opinion leaders, among other personalities.
He said both the NGO and the association would run a dedicated conflict resolution programme to train advocates on non-violence, adding that a youth development programme to train the youth in vocations such as carpentry, masonry, hairdressing and tailoring would be carried out.
Mr Kumah said “an idle man is the devil’s workshop”, and that once the youth were equipped with the necessary skills, inciting them to violence would be difficult.
He said to ensure that the Korle Lagoon was protected from pollution, an environmental task force would be set up to police the area to prevent dumping of refuse into the lagoon.
“We wish to assure the government and the nation as a whole and the Ga people in particular that we are committed to contributing to ensuring that the persistent violence in and around the community will be a thing of the past,” he emphasised.
Mr Kumah said the association was committed to seeking the welfare of the Old Fadama community and that it did not want politicians to capitalise on the situation or any ethnic connotations.
On the August 25, 2009 incident, in which three persons were killed and others injured, he said the association did not know the perpetrators or cause(s) of the act.
For his part, the secretary of the association, Mr Frederick Opoku, said since the police were the right people to carry out investigations into the matter, they should be allowed to do their work.
9-03-09
RESIDENTS of Agbogbloshie have reactivated a community watchdog group to work closely with the police to prevent the occasional outbreak of violence in the area.
The move is part of measures being adopted by the residents to bring about peace at Agbogbloshie.
Addressing the press yesterday, the Spokesperson of the Old Fadama Development Association, Mr Philip Kumah, said in its quest to ensure peaceful co-existence, People’s Dialogue, an NGO, in collaboration of the association, would set up a mediation centre within the community to find solutions to petty squabbles which could otherwise degenerate into violence.
The centre, he said, would be manned by religious and opinion leaders, among other personalities.
He said both the NGO and the association would run a dedicated conflict resolution programme to train advocates on non-violence, adding that a youth development programme to train the youth in vocations such as carpentry, masonry, hairdressing and tailoring would be carried out.
Mr Kumah said “an idle man is the devil’s workshop”, and that once the youth were equipped with the necessary skills, inciting them to violence would be difficult.
He said to ensure that the Korle Lagoon was protected from pollution, an environmental task force would be set up to police the area to prevent dumping of refuse into the lagoon.
“We wish to assure the government and the nation as a whole and the Ga people in particular that we are committed to contributing to ensuring that the persistent violence in and around the community will be a thing of the past,” he emphasised.
Mr Kumah said the association was committed to seeking the welfare of the Old Fadama community and that it did not want politicians to capitalise on the situation or any ethnic connotations.
On the August 25, 2009 incident, in which three persons were killed and others injured, he said the association did not know the perpetrators or cause(s) of the act.
For his part, the secretary of the association, Mr Frederick Opoku, said since the police were the right people to carry out investigations into the matter, they should be allowed to do their work.
GES posts teachers to deprived areas
Page 20
9-03-09
A policy to ensure that deprived areas are not left out in teacher distribution in the country has taken off with new teachers being posted to the deprived parts of the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies that sponsored them.
The first batch of teachers under the policy has been sent to their various districts.
The Director of the Teacher Education Division of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr Victor Mante, who made this known to the Daily Graphic, said the assemblies were expected to provide the needed facilities to ensure that the teachers served in the deprived parts of the assemblies.
An exercise carried out by the Teacher Education Division of the Ghana Education Service (GES) revealed that there were 6,000 untrained teachers in 70 of the 170 districts of the country.
The decision to post teachers to deprived communities aims at addressing the problem of lack of teachers in deprived communities.
Mr Mante said more than 97 per cent of teacher trainees were sponsored by their metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies.
He said it was, therefore, incumbent upon the local GES to post the teachers to the deprived areas of the districts that sponsored them, since that was where their services were needed most.
He said the new measures, which had taken effect from the 2008/2009 academic year, was being implemented, and stressed that "more districts should sponsor teacher trainees, since that is the only way they can address their vacancy problem".
Mr Mante said district assemblies needed to undertake the needs assessment of teachers every year to project the number of teachers they would need to plan towards their sponsorship.
On the admission of teacher trainees annually, he said the current quota was 9000, and that although Principals of Colleges of Education had indicated their preparedness to take up to 12,000 trainees, that could not be done because of the cost involved in terms of the payment of allowances.
For instance, GH¢26,255,500 was spent as allowances for teacher trainees last year, and that about GH¢900,000 more would be needed if the intake was increased to 12,000.
Mr Mante said out of the 9000 admitted every year, 8,200 graduated, saying that while others dropped out midstream the rest were referred in their subjects.
9-03-09
A policy to ensure that deprived areas are not left out in teacher distribution in the country has taken off with new teachers being posted to the deprived parts of the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies that sponsored them.
The first batch of teachers under the policy has been sent to their various districts.
The Director of the Teacher Education Division of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr Victor Mante, who made this known to the Daily Graphic, said the assemblies were expected to provide the needed facilities to ensure that the teachers served in the deprived parts of the assemblies.
An exercise carried out by the Teacher Education Division of the Ghana Education Service (GES) revealed that there were 6,000 untrained teachers in 70 of the 170 districts of the country.
The decision to post teachers to deprived communities aims at addressing the problem of lack of teachers in deprived communities.
Mr Mante said more than 97 per cent of teacher trainees were sponsored by their metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies.
He said it was, therefore, incumbent upon the local GES to post the teachers to the deprived areas of the districts that sponsored them, since that was where their services were needed most.
He said the new measures, which had taken effect from the 2008/2009 academic year, was being implemented, and stressed that "more districts should sponsor teacher trainees, since that is the only way they can address their vacancy problem".
Mr Mante said district assemblies needed to undertake the needs assessment of teachers every year to project the number of teachers they would need to plan towards their sponsorship.
On the admission of teacher trainees annually, he said the current quota was 9000, and that although Principals of Colleges of Education had indicated their preparedness to take up to 12,000 trainees, that could not be done because of the cost involved in terms of the payment of allowances.
For instance, GH¢26,255,500 was spent as allowances for teacher trainees last year, and that about GH¢900,000 more would be needed if the intake was increased to 12,000.
Mr Mante said out of the 9000 admitted every year, 8,200 graduated, saying that while others dropped out midstream the rest were referred in their subjects.
3-Year SHS deferred
Page 17
Sept 3, 2009
THE Cabinet has directed the Ministry of Education to defer the three-year senior high school (SHS) programme for one year and begin its implementation from the 2010-2011 academic year.
This means that students who would be entering senior high school Form One, for the 2009-2010 academic year, would follow the current four-year programme.
The Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, told a press conference in Accra yesterday that following Cabinet’s approval for the reversal of the duration of the senior high school from four to three years, a technical committee was set up by the ministry to draw up the modalities for the reversal, taking into consideration issues concerning infrastructure, admission procedures, financial and curriculum concerns.
“Among the committee’s findings was the fact that the Ministry of Education has to put in place the necessary facilities such as additional classrooms, laboratories and textbooks and revise the syllabuses in line with the three-year programme and amend the section of the Education Act, 2008 (Act 778) which provides for a four-year senior high school education,” he said.
He said the Cabinet also urged the ministry to set up a National Implementation Committee to deal with issues relating to infrastructure, textbooks and syllabuses for the three-year programme and address the setting up of the National Inspectorate Board, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment and the National Teaching Council.
Mr Tettey-Enyo said the “Ministry of Finance was also directed to include allocations for the achievement of these goals in the 2009 supplementary budget and the annual budget for the 2010 fiscal year”.
“We wish to assure all of you that before the commencement of the 2010-2011 academic year, all the requirements will be put in place to address the challenges associated with the changeover,” he emphasised.
The Computerised Schools Selection and Placement System (CSSPS), he said, would take approximately 14 days to run the placement software after some activities, including cleaning the master file, uploading of results and running the software, and that it would take 14 days to process the placement report.
Mr Tettey-Enyo said that would involve printing, sorting, packaging and dispatching of the materials to schools through the regional and district directorate.
“By this arrangement, it is expected that all things being equal, placement reports will be available in schools by 28th September, 2009. However, candidates could access information on placement before then, hopefully by September 15, 2009,” he said, and indicated that candidates might access their placement results through SMS on given mobile codes.
He said the SHS One students were to be in school between October 12 and 17, 2009, and charged parents to accept the placement of their children since the placement was based on the six choices made by the candidates.
Mr Tettey-Enyo said out of the 395,647 candidates who wrote the Basic Education 200,642 qualified for placement, and that “these qualified candidates are to be placed according to the order of merit in vacancies in schools of their choice.
On teacher education, the minister said, the 505 Ghana Education Service personnel who went on study leave without pay and wanted re-engagement needed to provide recruitment forms, personal record forms, certificates, application letters, pay slips, covering letters from regions, testimonials from last employers or recognised public servant during the break, as well as letters of acceptance or approval of resignation or leave of absence and study leave.
“To facilitate re-engagement of these teachers who vacated their posts by going on study leave without approval, they are to be encouraged to contact their previous district directorates and apply for re-engagement. These teachers are advised to accept postings to places where there are vacancies and their services are highly needed,” he said.
Mr Tettey-Enyo said Printex, a Ghanaian textile manufacturing company, was ready to produce the specified fabric for the production of the 1.6 million free uniforms, estimated at GH¢ 11.7 million, to be supplied to 57 deprived districts.
Sept 3, 2009
THE Cabinet has directed the Ministry of Education to defer the three-year senior high school (SHS) programme for one year and begin its implementation from the 2010-2011 academic year.
This means that students who would be entering senior high school Form One, for the 2009-2010 academic year, would follow the current four-year programme.
The Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, told a press conference in Accra yesterday that following Cabinet’s approval for the reversal of the duration of the senior high school from four to three years, a technical committee was set up by the ministry to draw up the modalities for the reversal, taking into consideration issues concerning infrastructure, admission procedures, financial and curriculum concerns.
“Among the committee’s findings was the fact that the Ministry of Education has to put in place the necessary facilities such as additional classrooms, laboratories and textbooks and revise the syllabuses in line with the three-year programme and amend the section of the Education Act, 2008 (Act 778) which provides for a four-year senior high school education,” he said.
He said the Cabinet also urged the ministry to set up a National Implementation Committee to deal with issues relating to infrastructure, textbooks and syllabuses for the three-year programme and address the setting up of the National Inspectorate Board, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment and the National Teaching Council.
Mr Tettey-Enyo said the “Ministry of Finance was also directed to include allocations for the achievement of these goals in the 2009 supplementary budget and the annual budget for the 2010 fiscal year”.
“We wish to assure all of you that before the commencement of the 2010-2011 academic year, all the requirements will be put in place to address the challenges associated with the changeover,” he emphasised.
The Computerised Schools Selection and Placement System (CSSPS), he said, would take approximately 14 days to run the placement software after some activities, including cleaning the master file, uploading of results and running the software, and that it would take 14 days to process the placement report.
Mr Tettey-Enyo said that would involve printing, sorting, packaging and dispatching of the materials to schools through the regional and district directorate.
“By this arrangement, it is expected that all things being equal, placement reports will be available in schools by 28th September, 2009. However, candidates could access information on placement before then, hopefully by September 15, 2009,” he said, and indicated that candidates might access their placement results through SMS on given mobile codes.
He said the SHS One students were to be in school between October 12 and 17, 2009, and charged parents to accept the placement of their children since the placement was based on the six choices made by the candidates.
Mr Tettey-Enyo said out of the 395,647 candidates who wrote the Basic Education 200,642 qualified for placement, and that “these qualified candidates are to be placed according to the order of merit in vacancies in schools of their choice.
On teacher education, the minister said, the 505 Ghana Education Service personnel who went on study leave without pay and wanted re-engagement needed to provide recruitment forms, personal record forms, certificates, application letters, pay slips, covering letters from regions, testimonials from last employers or recognised public servant during the break, as well as letters of acceptance or approval of resignation or leave of absence and study leave.
“To facilitate re-engagement of these teachers who vacated their posts by going on study leave without approval, they are to be encouraged to contact their previous district directorates and apply for re-engagement. These teachers are advised to accept postings to places where there are vacancies and their services are highly needed,” he said.
Mr Tettey-Enyo said Printex, a Ghanaian textile manufacturing company, was ready to produce the specified fabric for the production of the 1.6 million free uniforms, estimated at GH¢ 11.7 million, to be supplied to 57 deprived districts.
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