17-10-08
Page 11
THE Second World War (1939-1945) bequeathed a barracks to the people of the Komenda Traditional Area. It was inhabited by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal British Navy. A section of the barracks provided the fertile ground where a mustard seed was sown, growing to become the Komenda Senior High Technical School.
The school was established in January 1991 as a community co-educational day senior high school, with preference for technical training. In accordance with the government’s policy at the time, PNDCL 207, the school inherited its basic equipment for teaching and learning from the Experimental Junior Secondary School which which later became Aldesgate Junior Secondary School, Komenda.
The decision to locate the school in the barracks was resolved through consultations with the traditional rulers, the Komenda, Edina, Eguafo Abirem (KEEA) administration then headed by Major Joseph Atta Clifford-Wirrom (Rtd), the Regional Education Office, then under Mr P. A. K. Badu-Prah, and Dr G.K. Erbynn, the then Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Centre and now Nana Owoododow X, Chief of Assin Jakai and Praso in the Central Region.
The structures in the barracks underwent some renovation works and expansion, with additional facilities to make it suitable for educational use. By 1999, the Technical, Agricultural and Visual Arts departments had been given permanent classrooms.The headmaster’s office and library blocks were also completed.
Guided by its motto “Dzinpa Ye Sen Ahonya”, - good name is better than riches, the pioneer students, numbering 73, comprising 55 boys and 18 girls under the tutorship of five, including the headmaster, girded their loins, uprooted stubborn stumps, filled gullies, reduced bushes to pathways and toiled variously to give the school its current shape and condition.
To date, close to 1,000 boys and girls have been duly registered, trained and passed out into the world and are found in all walks of life.
We commend those band of noble teachers who endured the harsh conditions and served in various capacities and lifted the banner of the school high. We salute them.
Four heads have administered the school since its inception. Mr Joseph Ernest Tachie-Menson, now of blessed memory, was the pioneer headmaster. His tenure spanned January 1991 to January 1999. He was responsible for the construction and inauguration of the first sets of new buildings.
He is remembered for hosting two speech days. The first was on October 10, 1995 and the second on October 11, 1997.
Ms Victoria Regina Longdon (1999-2003) was credited with the introduction of a canteen system which enabled hostel students to have regular hygiene and timely-served meals. The result was an increase in enrolment as students from outside the community joined the school from Winneba, Apam, Saltpond, Sekondi-Takoradi and Cape Coast. She also held two speech days.
Mr Gabriel Kwame Tagborlo (March 2003-June 2005) succeded Ms Longdon. His service with the school ended in June 2005 by reason of retirement. The fourth and current headmaster, Mr David Nicholas Bonney took office in June 2005.
Today, KOMENSTEC is no longer a community day school. It is a national school that offers placement for every Ghanaian student who qualifies by all standards to pursue a senior high technical school education. With a further expansion of facilities by an additional magnificent two-storey girls dormitory block to offer accommodation for non-community students, a 76-seater Eicher bus to promote educational tours and a 300-seater dining hall block under constrution, the school is poised to gradually take its place among its kind in the country.
The school is grateful to the government of Ghana through its relevant bodies for the continued care and support it has received from it. The Board of Governors and parent-teacher association (PTA) is collaborating with the school’s administration to develop the school further.
As the school celebrates its day tomorrow, Saturday, October 18, 2008, its board, all teaching and non-teachinfg staff, students, well wishers and friends, wish the school a happy celebrations.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Commercial drivers undergo driving management course
Page 34
16-10-08
ROAD Safety and Transportation Consultancies (RSTC) Limited, a driving training institution, has provided training in Driving Management Science (DMS) for 3,940 commercial drivers without any charge.
The programme aims at enhancing the competencies of drivers in terms of exhibition of positive attitudes and behaviours.
“The entire objective of DMS is to make professional drivers accept the concept of zero tolerance for crash. DMS also inculcate better vehicle handling and maintenance culture in vehicles,” Mr Godfred Akyea-Darkwah said at end of a one-week intensive course for 40 commercial drivers in Accra on Friday.
The programme took the drivers through safe driving, customer care, drivers habit and ethics, vehicle fire safety, topography of Accra, practical driving techniques and essentials of vehicle maintenance.
Mr Akyea-Darkwah said the DMS programme, which started in 1994 by RSTC, had come to replace the defensive driving methodology of training professional drivers, adding that defensive driving programme should be restricted to beginner drivers in the driving profession.
He said out of the number of drivers trained, only one professional driver had been involved in a crash for the past four years when the DMS was introduced.
Facilitators, he said, hammered more on the current electioneering and the danger it posed to road users, passengers and pedestrians, adding that road traffic accidents went up during election years.
Mr Akyea-Darkwah said for instance, statistics from the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) indicated that 717 people were killed in 6,922 accidents that occurred in 1992, while 1,040 people were killed in 8,488 accidents in 1996 with 1,578 people dying in 11,714 accidents in 2000.
In 2004, he said, there were 12,164 accidents killing 2,173.
“I, therefore, wish to seize the opportunity to appeal to the commercial, institutional drivers and the motoring public to be patient and careful as the electioneering campaign is heating up. All road networks are experiencing convoy and campaign driving style which is full of speeding and blatant disregard for road speed limits,” he said, adding that that was “characterised with overloading” and “people sitting in vehicle buckets to campaign grounds are all forms of high risks activities”.
He appealed to drivers not to follow or compete with convoy vehicles, and that drivers should not prevent convoy vehicles from bypassing them even if they were opposed to the party vehicles that were moving.
In the same vein, he said, campaign passengers should desist from sitting in the buckets and trailers of vehicles such as pick-ups and payloaders, since they posed high risk to occupants, and that “convoy drivers are also reminded that they should be conscious of the people they meet on the road”.
The officer in charge of Information Management at the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), Mr Kwame Kodua Atuahene, said the issue of road safety was a shared responsibility and that all had a role to play.
The course prefect, Mr George Asare, said the DMS programme gave a vivid account of each road safety and vehicle maintenance issues.
16-10-08
ROAD Safety and Transportation Consultancies (RSTC) Limited, a driving training institution, has provided training in Driving Management Science (DMS) for 3,940 commercial drivers without any charge.
The programme aims at enhancing the competencies of drivers in terms of exhibition of positive attitudes and behaviours.
“The entire objective of DMS is to make professional drivers accept the concept of zero tolerance for crash. DMS also inculcate better vehicle handling and maintenance culture in vehicles,” Mr Godfred Akyea-Darkwah said at end of a one-week intensive course for 40 commercial drivers in Accra on Friday.
The programme took the drivers through safe driving, customer care, drivers habit and ethics, vehicle fire safety, topography of Accra, practical driving techniques and essentials of vehicle maintenance.
Mr Akyea-Darkwah said the DMS programme, which started in 1994 by RSTC, had come to replace the defensive driving methodology of training professional drivers, adding that defensive driving programme should be restricted to beginner drivers in the driving profession.
He said out of the number of drivers trained, only one professional driver had been involved in a crash for the past four years when the DMS was introduced.
Facilitators, he said, hammered more on the current electioneering and the danger it posed to road users, passengers and pedestrians, adding that road traffic accidents went up during election years.
Mr Akyea-Darkwah said for instance, statistics from the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) indicated that 717 people were killed in 6,922 accidents that occurred in 1992, while 1,040 people were killed in 8,488 accidents in 1996 with 1,578 people dying in 11,714 accidents in 2000.
In 2004, he said, there were 12,164 accidents killing 2,173.
“I, therefore, wish to seize the opportunity to appeal to the commercial, institutional drivers and the motoring public to be patient and careful as the electioneering campaign is heating up. All road networks are experiencing convoy and campaign driving style which is full of speeding and blatant disregard for road speed limits,” he said, adding that that was “characterised with overloading” and “people sitting in vehicle buckets to campaign grounds are all forms of high risks activities”.
He appealed to drivers not to follow or compete with convoy vehicles, and that drivers should not prevent convoy vehicles from bypassing them even if they were opposed to the party vehicles that were moving.
In the same vein, he said, campaign passengers should desist from sitting in the buckets and trailers of vehicles such as pick-ups and payloaders, since they posed high risk to occupants, and that “convoy drivers are also reminded that they should be conscious of the people they meet on the road”.
The officer in charge of Information Management at the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), Mr Kwame Kodua Atuahene, said the issue of road safety was a shared responsibility and that all had a role to play.
The course prefect, Mr George Asare, said the DMS programme gave a vivid account of each road safety and vehicle maintenance issues.
Government releases GH¢10m for workers housing
16-10-08
Page 49
THE government has released GH¢10 million to HFC Bank Limited as a revolving fund for public sector employees’ housing scheme.
Under the scheme, public sector workers will be able to access up to GH¢25,000 to complete or purchase their own houses.
The Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Alhaji Abubakar Saddique Boniface, who announced this at a press conference on the government’s affordable housing programme in Accra, said the interest rate was 10 per cent.
He said several investors had shown interest in the delivery of houses for Ghanaians and that the ministry had signed memoranda of understanding (MoU) with prospective investors in that regard.
“Some of the proposals are quite advanced. Among them are Renaissance Management Group of the USA — $250 million — and Sithru Malaysia — $120 million. The process seems a bit slow because of the due diligence that has to be done on these proposed investments,” he explained.
Alhaji Boniface said the government’s role as the facilitator of the private sector notwithstanding, it had realised that it had a social commitment to ensure that lower income workers were housed, adding that it was in trying to address the problem and the growing housing deficit that President Kufuor initiated the Affordable Housing Programme.
That, he said, was to provide houses for low to middle-income workers of the country who were facing acute accommodation problems and who most often retired without accommodation.
He said the target was to provide 100,000 housing units over a 10-year period through direct government intervention and in partnership with the private sector, adding that “the programme commenced with the Borteyman-Nungua project in February 2006 and was extended in May 2006 to Kpone, near Tema, and Asokore-Mampong in Kumasi. The Koforidua project was launched in July 2007 and that of Tamale and Wa in September 2007”.
Alhaji Boniface said the proposals were essentially for one, two and three-bedroom house types and flats and that what was under construction in all the sites under the first phase were one and two-bedroom apartments in four-storey blocks of flats with minimum specification and the necessary infrastructure such as roads, drainage, a central sewage system, shopping centres, clinics and schools.
To date, he said, a total of 325 local contractors and 60,000 local workers were engaged on the projects in all the six sites and a total amount of GH¢52.67 million had been spent on the projects, adding that 5,162 units were under construction in all existing sites and that they were at various stages of completion.
He expressed the hope of completing some of the housing units by the end of the year.
He said it was intended to build 600 housing units under the first phase in the remaining regional capitals of Sunyani, Sekondi/Takoradi, Ho, Bolgatanga and Cape Coast.
Alhaji Boniface said with regard to land, the ministry had sourced 50,000 acres in Greater Accra and other regional and district capitals purposely for the government’s housing programme and associated infrastructural development.
“The main objective is to establish land bank systems to facilitate access to land by developers,” he said, and commended the chiefs and landowners who had voluntarily offered their land.
He said the ministry and the Ministry of Lands, Forestry and Mines and other agencies were implementing the Accra Government Residential Areas Redevelopment Project as part of the urban renewal strategy and that the objective was to maximise the use of existing prime lands and increase housing densities.
Alhaji Boniface explained that the housing deficit was estimated to be in excess of 500,000 units, while supply was about 45,000 units per annum, against an annual requirement of 100,000.
Page 49
THE government has released GH¢10 million to HFC Bank Limited as a revolving fund for public sector employees’ housing scheme.
Under the scheme, public sector workers will be able to access up to GH¢25,000 to complete or purchase their own houses.
The Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Alhaji Abubakar Saddique Boniface, who announced this at a press conference on the government’s affordable housing programme in Accra, said the interest rate was 10 per cent.
He said several investors had shown interest in the delivery of houses for Ghanaians and that the ministry had signed memoranda of understanding (MoU) with prospective investors in that regard.
“Some of the proposals are quite advanced. Among them are Renaissance Management Group of the USA — $250 million — and Sithru Malaysia — $120 million. The process seems a bit slow because of the due diligence that has to be done on these proposed investments,” he explained.
Alhaji Boniface said the government’s role as the facilitator of the private sector notwithstanding, it had realised that it had a social commitment to ensure that lower income workers were housed, adding that it was in trying to address the problem and the growing housing deficit that President Kufuor initiated the Affordable Housing Programme.
That, he said, was to provide houses for low to middle-income workers of the country who were facing acute accommodation problems and who most often retired without accommodation.
He said the target was to provide 100,000 housing units over a 10-year period through direct government intervention and in partnership with the private sector, adding that “the programme commenced with the Borteyman-Nungua project in February 2006 and was extended in May 2006 to Kpone, near Tema, and Asokore-Mampong in Kumasi. The Koforidua project was launched in July 2007 and that of Tamale and Wa in September 2007”.
Alhaji Boniface said the proposals were essentially for one, two and three-bedroom house types and flats and that what was under construction in all the sites under the first phase were one and two-bedroom apartments in four-storey blocks of flats with minimum specification and the necessary infrastructure such as roads, drainage, a central sewage system, shopping centres, clinics and schools.
To date, he said, a total of 325 local contractors and 60,000 local workers were engaged on the projects in all the six sites and a total amount of GH¢52.67 million had been spent on the projects, adding that 5,162 units were under construction in all existing sites and that they were at various stages of completion.
He expressed the hope of completing some of the housing units by the end of the year.
He said it was intended to build 600 housing units under the first phase in the remaining regional capitals of Sunyani, Sekondi/Takoradi, Ho, Bolgatanga and Cape Coast.
Alhaji Boniface said with regard to land, the ministry had sourced 50,000 acres in Greater Accra and other regional and district capitals purposely for the government’s housing programme and associated infrastructural development.
“The main objective is to establish land bank systems to facilitate access to land by developers,” he said, and commended the chiefs and landowners who had voluntarily offered their land.
He said the ministry and the Ministry of Lands, Forestry and Mines and other agencies were implementing the Accra Government Residential Areas Redevelopment Project as part of the urban renewal strategy and that the objective was to maximise the use of existing prime lands and increase housing densities.
Alhaji Boniface explained that the housing deficit was estimated to be in excess of 500,000 units, while supply was about 45,000 units per annum, against an annual requirement of 100,000.
Word Miracle Church dedicates Kasoa Temple
Page 43
16-10-08
THE Presiding Bishop of the Word Miracle Church International (WMCI), Bishop Charles Agyin Asare, has dedicated the Prayer Temple of the Kasoa branch of the church.
The occasion was also used to climax activities marking the 10th anniversary of the branch.
Preaching the sermon on the topic, “The Shaking Has Started”, Bishop Agyin Asare said what was happening currently in the world was what Jesus said was going to happen in the last days.
That, he said, included the financial crisis that had hit the United States and other countries.
Bishop Agyin Asare said although such a crisis had a ripple effect on the rest of the world, there was the need for Christians not to fear but look up to God, adding that “fear can make you lose hope”.
God, according to him, always took care of His own, hence the need to believe in Him only.
“This is the time to have faith in Christ because He will take care of His own,” he admonished the congregation, and indicated that everything would pass away but the promises of God would not fail.
Bishop Agyin Asare commended the members and leadership of the Kasoa branch of the church for putting up the chapel.
In a brief history, the host pastor, Rev Joseph Lavoe, said the church began in a classroom with 12 adults and six children in February 1998.
He thanked members for their support for the church, saying that in spite of the fact that every single member played an active role, the efforts of pastors Enoch Collins, Ato Ghartey and Owusu Nsiah, who contributed in diverse ways to the growth of the church, were worth mentioning.
16-10-08
THE Presiding Bishop of the Word Miracle Church International (WMCI), Bishop Charles Agyin Asare, has dedicated the Prayer Temple of the Kasoa branch of the church.
The occasion was also used to climax activities marking the 10th anniversary of the branch.
Preaching the sermon on the topic, “The Shaking Has Started”, Bishop Agyin Asare said what was happening currently in the world was what Jesus said was going to happen in the last days.
That, he said, included the financial crisis that had hit the United States and other countries.
Bishop Agyin Asare said although such a crisis had a ripple effect on the rest of the world, there was the need for Christians not to fear but look up to God, adding that “fear can make you lose hope”.
God, according to him, always took care of His own, hence the need to believe in Him only.
“This is the time to have faith in Christ because He will take care of His own,” he admonished the congregation, and indicated that everything would pass away but the promises of God would not fail.
Bishop Agyin Asare commended the members and leadership of the Kasoa branch of the church for putting up the chapel.
In a brief history, the host pastor, Rev Joseph Lavoe, said the church began in a classroom with 12 adults and six children in February 1998.
He thanked members for their support for the church, saying that in spite of the fact that every single member played an active role, the efforts of pastors Enoch Collins, Ato Ghartey and Owusu Nsiah, who contributed in diverse ways to the growth of the church, were worth mentioning.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Don't discriminate in award of scholarship
Page 31
15-10-08
THE outgoing Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Prof Stephen Adei, has said the state should desist from favouring students in public institutions in the award of scholarships.
He said Ghanaians should be able to compete for scholarships on the basis of need, programme and academic achievements and not the institution one attended.
“The state should immediately stop favouring those who are in public universities when it comes to scholarships,” he said when he presented a paper on, “Funding Private Tertiary Educational Institutions: Lessons For the Future”, at the launch of the 10th anniversary of the Central University College (CUC) in Accra on Monday.
He said higher education played a strategic role in national development by providing critical knowledge and skills to participate in the global economy, as well as enlarge choices and facilitate democratic governance.
The sector, he said, was responsible for training high-level personnel for technical, managerial and leadership positions, generating new knowledge which was key to technological advancement, among other things.
Prof Adei said there was no doubt that private universities were offering education at very low rates of between GH¢1,300 and $5,400 per annum, and that “only Ashesi University College’s $5,400 per annum does not fit the pattern, but even that is much lower than the annual fees charged by the elite second-cycle schools in the city of Accra-Tema which range above $6,000”.
He said the future landscape of financing private tertiary education must change drastically and that existing institutions had to expand critical mass of enrolment, generate research and enter into the sciences and other areas.
That, according to him, would require state encouragement, loanable funds and market-determined fees, adding that long-term funding of capital or the development of private tertiary educational institutions should come from financial institutions such as the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
Prof Adei indicated that the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) policy regarding private institutions must be made clear and not to be at the discretion and magnanimity of visits by dignitaries.
He said, for instance, that 10 per cent of the fund could be earmarked for private institutions, although “I believe that the bulk should go to support public universities”.
Private universities, he said, were in the country to stay, as they would grow in number and size and share in the enrolment of students.
“Government policy should recognise that an enabling environment is needed to create expanded private tertiary institutions. That will require a paradigm shift in the attitude of the government and the bureaucracy of public institutions such as the National Council for Tertiary Education, the National Accreditation Board (NAB), the GETFund and the Scholarship Secretariat,” he said.
Prof Adei said the funding of private higher educational institutions was clearly dominated by fees and church/owner support, saying there was the need for the institutions to look for government support, including consessional loans, research earnings, private sector and service charges.
He expressed the hope that private tertiary institutions such as the CUC, the Valley View University and the Regent University would, in the next 10 years, be the priced universities of choice in the country and urged them to speed up with expansion and quality improvement.
To that end, he said the NAB should institute a standard criteria in all areas of concern to measure all universities in the country.
Prof Adei said the immediate future did not look too bright for private universities, as an examination of the manifestos of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the People’s National Convention (PNC) showed.
“The CPP says nothing. The NDC ‘only indicates that it will construct two new public universities’. The NPP promises a public university in each region and making university education accessible, but says nothing on the private sector. The PNC will convert some high schools into universities; faculty to be provided by retired leaders abroad and it will set up a research and development fund, but all in the public domain,” he said.
He said private tertiary educational institutions should, therefore, engage in lobbying, make noise and say things that politicians would listen to because when the “government is awake, their funding options will expand”.
The Chairperson of the Board of Regents of the CUC, Ms Joyce Aryee, who outlined a brief history of the college, said it was started by the International Central Gospel Church with 12 students and a staff strength of five.
The President of the CUC, Prof V. P. Y. Gadzekpo, said, among things, the university was to empower people to realise their dreams.
15-10-08
THE outgoing Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Prof Stephen Adei, has said the state should desist from favouring students in public institutions in the award of scholarships.
He said Ghanaians should be able to compete for scholarships on the basis of need, programme and academic achievements and not the institution one attended.
“The state should immediately stop favouring those who are in public universities when it comes to scholarships,” he said when he presented a paper on, “Funding Private Tertiary Educational Institutions: Lessons For the Future”, at the launch of the 10th anniversary of the Central University College (CUC) in Accra on Monday.
He said higher education played a strategic role in national development by providing critical knowledge and skills to participate in the global economy, as well as enlarge choices and facilitate democratic governance.
The sector, he said, was responsible for training high-level personnel for technical, managerial and leadership positions, generating new knowledge which was key to technological advancement, among other things.
Prof Adei said there was no doubt that private universities were offering education at very low rates of between GH¢1,300 and $5,400 per annum, and that “only Ashesi University College’s $5,400 per annum does not fit the pattern, but even that is much lower than the annual fees charged by the elite second-cycle schools in the city of Accra-Tema which range above $6,000”.
He said the future landscape of financing private tertiary education must change drastically and that existing institutions had to expand critical mass of enrolment, generate research and enter into the sciences and other areas.
That, according to him, would require state encouragement, loanable funds and market-determined fees, adding that long-term funding of capital or the development of private tertiary educational institutions should come from financial institutions such as the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
Prof Adei indicated that the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) policy regarding private institutions must be made clear and not to be at the discretion and magnanimity of visits by dignitaries.
He said, for instance, that 10 per cent of the fund could be earmarked for private institutions, although “I believe that the bulk should go to support public universities”.
Private universities, he said, were in the country to stay, as they would grow in number and size and share in the enrolment of students.
“Government policy should recognise that an enabling environment is needed to create expanded private tertiary institutions. That will require a paradigm shift in the attitude of the government and the bureaucracy of public institutions such as the National Council for Tertiary Education, the National Accreditation Board (NAB), the GETFund and the Scholarship Secretariat,” he said.
Prof Adei said the funding of private higher educational institutions was clearly dominated by fees and church/owner support, saying there was the need for the institutions to look for government support, including consessional loans, research earnings, private sector and service charges.
He expressed the hope that private tertiary institutions such as the CUC, the Valley View University and the Regent University would, in the next 10 years, be the priced universities of choice in the country and urged them to speed up with expansion and quality improvement.
To that end, he said the NAB should institute a standard criteria in all areas of concern to measure all universities in the country.
Prof Adei said the immediate future did not look too bright for private universities, as an examination of the manifestos of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the People’s National Convention (PNC) showed.
“The CPP says nothing. The NDC ‘only indicates that it will construct two new public universities’. The NPP promises a public university in each region and making university education accessible, but says nothing on the private sector. The PNC will convert some high schools into universities; faculty to be provided by retired leaders abroad and it will set up a research and development fund, but all in the public domain,” he said.
He said private tertiary educational institutions should, therefore, engage in lobbying, make noise and say things that politicians would listen to because when the “government is awake, their funding options will expand”.
The Chairperson of the Board of Regents of the CUC, Ms Joyce Aryee, who outlined a brief history of the college, said it was started by the International Central Gospel Church with 12 students and a staff strength of five.
The President of the CUC, Prof V. P. Y. Gadzekpo, said, among things, the university was to empower people to realise their dreams.
'Don't politicise land issue'
Page 3
15-10-08
THE Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mr Stephen Asamoah-Boateng, has cautioned Ghanaians against politicising the issue of land in the country.
That, he said, was because that issue was very dear to the hearts of the people.
He said this when he announced the postponement of a scheduled press conference by the Ministry of Lands, Forestry and Mines at the Conference Room of the Ministry of Information yesterday.
The Minister of Lands, Forestry and Mines, Mrs Esther Obeng-Dapaah, was expected to take her turn at the meet-the- press series to address fallout from the recent announcement by the government to release a percentage of lands in Accra that had been acquired by the state to their original owners.
Mr Asamoah-Boateng apologised to the press for the postponement of the event, which he said would be held next week Tuesday.
He said the recent decision to release lands in Accra was going to be replicated in the other regions, and that the process was an ongoing one, adding that matters of land were not the preserve of the Ministry of Lands, Forestry and Mines alone but also the Attorney-General's Department, which was a key agency.
He underscored the need for the media to have a better understanding of the facts surrounding Accra lands and help to do away with emotions.
He said the media would not be helping the cause of the nation if they became sensational because everybody was screaming on the land matter.
On Ga-Dangme lands, Mr Asamoah-Boateng said the media could do more underground work by knowing the lands better, the stools and the families concerned to be able to report accurately.
He gave the assurance that the details and the facts behind the release of the lands would be made known next week.
The government last Wednesday announced that it was returning a percentage of lands in Accra that had been acquired by the state for various development projects to their original owners.
It, accordingly, directed the Ministry of Lands, Forestry and Mines to prepare and submit proposals and modalities for consideration by Cabinet.
It said the gesture was in fulfilment of a promise made by the President, Mr J. A. Kufuor, to return part of those lands to the original owners.
Some of the lands to be released are at Mpehuasem at East Legon, which was acquired for the Accra Training College; the Ogbojo site for the National Women Training Centre; the Adenta site for the West Africa Secondary School; the Kwabenya Ghana Atomic Energy Commission site; the Odorgonno Secondary School site at Awoshie and the Bank for Housing and Construction site at Madina.
15-10-08
THE Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mr Stephen Asamoah-Boateng, has cautioned Ghanaians against politicising the issue of land in the country.
That, he said, was because that issue was very dear to the hearts of the people.
He said this when he announced the postponement of a scheduled press conference by the Ministry of Lands, Forestry and Mines at the Conference Room of the Ministry of Information yesterday.
The Minister of Lands, Forestry and Mines, Mrs Esther Obeng-Dapaah, was expected to take her turn at the meet-the- press series to address fallout from the recent announcement by the government to release a percentage of lands in Accra that had been acquired by the state to their original owners.
Mr Asamoah-Boateng apologised to the press for the postponement of the event, which he said would be held next week Tuesday.
He said the recent decision to release lands in Accra was going to be replicated in the other regions, and that the process was an ongoing one, adding that matters of land were not the preserve of the Ministry of Lands, Forestry and Mines alone but also the Attorney-General's Department, which was a key agency.
He underscored the need for the media to have a better understanding of the facts surrounding Accra lands and help to do away with emotions.
He said the media would not be helping the cause of the nation if they became sensational because everybody was screaming on the land matter.
On Ga-Dangme lands, Mr Asamoah-Boateng said the media could do more underground work by knowing the lands better, the stools and the families concerned to be able to report accurately.
He gave the assurance that the details and the facts behind the release of the lands would be made known next week.
The government last Wednesday announced that it was returning a percentage of lands in Accra that had been acquired by the state for various development projects to their original owners.
It, accordingly, directed the Ministry of Lands, Forestry and Mines to prepare and submit proposals and modalities for consideration by Cabinet.
It said the gesture was in fulfilment of a promise made by the President, Mr J. A. Kufuor, to return part of those lands to the original owners.
Some of the lands to be released are at Mpehuasem at East Legon, which was acquired for the Accra Training College; the Ogbojo site for the National Women Training Centre; the Adenta site for the West Africa Secondary School; the Kwabenya Ghana Atomic Energy Commission site; the Odorgonno Secondary School site at Awoshie and the Bank for Housing and Construction site at Madina.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Parents complain about computerised selection system
Spread
14-10-08
PARENTS whose children have still not been placed in senior high schools (SHS) have expressed their frustration with the Computerised Schools Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) and urged the Ghana Education Service (GES) to improve on the efficiency of the system.
Some of the parents were disappointed that with second-cycle schools set to re-open for first-year students today, they had still not been able to secure placements for their children.
Although the GES had given the assurance that all students would be placed, the parents said it was time the perennial problem was addressed, since it created too much anxiety among candidates who had not been placed.
Scores of parents continue to besiege the GES Headquarters with their children in search of school placements.
They told the Daily Graphic in separate interviews that the total scores of all the qualified students should be displayed on the results slips to ensure greater transparency in the selection process.
“My child had aggregate 15 but he has not been placed in any school,” one frustrated parent told the Daily Graphic.
Out of the 173,315 BECE candidates who qualified for placement, 139,478, including 1,579 re-entry candidates, have been placed in SHS and technical institutes, leaving 33,837.
But the GES has assured students and parents that all students will be placed in schools.
“If those who have not been placed decide to accept schools they did not choose, they will all get schools by the end of the month,” Mr Stephen Adu, the Director of Basic Education at the GES, told the Daily Graphic.
He acknowledged that there might be a few problems with the system and indicated that most of the problems students were facing had been created by the students and their parents themselves.
“Some of the parents have failed to accept what they have chosen themselves,” he stated.
He explained that although there was a lot of interest in the ‘big’ schools, competition for admission to those schools was very keen and said students and parents needed to recognise that.
Some of the parents are smarting under pressure from their children to get them placed in schools of their choice, particularly the ‘big’ schools.
One parent, Mr John Obeng, said although his child had been offered placement at Koforidua Secondary/Technical School, that was not the choice he had made.
“My child chose schools in the Central Region — Mfantsipim, Adisadel, St Augustine’s and Ghana National College — but I think there was a mix up in the computer selection process. He had aggregate six, with a total score of 438,” he stated, and showed reporters the results slip to buttress his claim.
Another parent, Peter Simpson, said although his child had been placed at the Ashaiman Secondary School, she was very unhappy and had declined to go.
“My child had aggregate 14 and she wants either Tema Senior High School or Chemu Secondary School. She is sad and I have been unable to convince her to go to Ashaiman Secondary School,” he stated.
14-10-08
PARENTS whose children have still not been placed in senior high schools (SHS) have expressed their frustration with the Computerised Schools Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) and urged the Ghana Education Service (GES) to improve on the efficiency of the system.
Some of the parents were disappointed that with second-cycle schools set to re-open for first-year students today, they had still not been able to secure placements for their children.
Although the GES had given the assurance that all students would be placed, the parents said it was time the perennial problem was addressed, since it created too much anxiety among candidates who had not been placed.
Scores of parents continue to besiege the GES Headquarters with their children in search of school placements.
They told the Daily Graphic in separate interviews that the total scores of all the qualified students should be displayed on the results slips to ensure greater transparency in the selection process.
“My child had aggregate 15 but he has not been placed in any school,” one frustrated parent told the Daily Graphic.
Out of the 173,315 BECE candidates who qualified for placement, 139,478, including 1,579 re-entry candidates, have been placed in SHS and technical institutes, leaving 33,837.
But the GES has assured students and parents that all students will be placed in schools.
“If those who have not been placed decide to accept schools they did not choose, they will all get schools by the end of the month,” Mr Stephen Adu, the Director of Basic Education at the GES, told the Daily Graphic.
He acknowledged that there might be a few problems with the system and indicated that most of the problems students were facing had been created by the students and their parents themselves.
“Some of the parents have failed to accept what they have chosen themselves,” he stated.
He explained that although there was a lot of interest in the ‘big’ schools, competition for admission to those schools was very keen and said students and parents needed to recognise that.
Some of the parents are smarting under pressure from their children to get them placed in schools of their choice, particularly the ‘big’ schools.
One parent, Mr John Obeng, said although his child had been offered placement at Koforidua Secondary/Technical School, that was not the choice he had made.
“My child chose schools in the Central Region — Mfantsipim, Adisadel, St Augustine’s and Ghana National College — but I think there was a mix up in the computer selection process. He had aggregate six, with a total score of 438,” he stated, and showed reporters the results slip to buttress his claim.
Another parent, Peter Simpson, said although his child had been placed at the Ashaiman Secondary School, she was very unhappy and had declined to go.
“My child had aggregate 14 and she wants either Tema Senior High School or Chemu Secondary School. She is sad and I have been unable to convince her to go to Ashaiman Secondary School,” he stated.
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