Ato Arthur interacts with JHS finalists

The Member of Parliament for KEEA Stephen Nana Ato Arthur (Dr) has visited about 50 Junior High Schools (JHS) out of 75 in his constituency to interact with the final year students and offer support and also encourage them in their impending examination.

The visit was also to see how the weekend classes he initiated for the various schools in the communities for the final year JHS students was progressing and also assured them that the entire constituency was behind them as they sit for their first  major exams of their lives.

According  to Hon, Dr  Ato  Arthur he challenged the  students to come out with good grades since he was  always ready to give out scholarship to any students  who would gain admission into the second cycle schools.

He added that since children would be the future leaders of the country, greater part of the constituency’s development fund would be devoted to improve their education.

Hon Dr. Ato Arthur further urged them to put their trust in God and concentrate on the syllabus from which questions for the examination will be based on.

He also asked them to comport themselves by obeying the invigilators and avoid examination malpractices, which could attract punitive measures from the examining body, which could mar their future efforts to climb the academic ladder.

Education Ministry to award best schools

Education Minister

The Ministry of Education has decided to award and recognise outstanding schools as part of its annual Best Teacher Awards.

The new award category, according to the Minister of Education, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, will not only recognise academic performance, but will also take into consideration variables such as the school’s environment, sanitation and staff.

The Minister announced this at the meet the press session in Accra Tuesday. The Best Teacher Award which is in its 20th year aims at rewarding the efforts of teachers and encouraging others to do same.

Prof Opoku-Agyemang described the programme as successful irrespective of the challenges that have confronted it.

She said, “Our proposal now is to expand this category to include awards for best schools. We will look at variables to include school environment, sanitation, teacher attendance, relation among the community, heads, teachers, non-teaching staff, students and of course the academic output also.”

She further explained that the award scheme will be structured in a manner that will not only acknowledge one particular school as the best, rather, the schools will be grouped into categories as a means of enhancing quality delivery.

According to Prof Opoku-Agyemang, the Ministry of Education provided capitation grant amounting to GH¢24,472,840 for 5,751,198 pupils in public basic schools for the 2012/13 academic year.

She said the ministry also subsidised the registration of BECE candidates to the tune of GH¢9,031,238.

Prof Opoku-Agyemang noted that the ministry would progressively implement the free senior high school education policy.  She said the ministry has drafted a roadmap to be presented to cabinet for approval.

“Under the guidance of the proposed roadmap we anticipate that fees for day students will be abolished at an estimated cost of GH¢71 million in the year of implementation. Other reliefs in respect of boarding students will be announced when the roadmap is finalised,” she said.

Prof Opoku-Agyemang mentioned that contracts have been signed for the 50 community schools which will be supported by government and the GETFund. She said another 23 new senior high schools which is expected to enrol about 15,000 students upon completion, would be supported by the World Bank.

She said as part of the programme, the ministry would also improve 50 senior high schools through expansion and rehabilitation of existing structures and facilities such as science and computer laboratories and libraries to increase enrolment.

According to Prof Opoku-Agyemang, the ministry last year established a monthly union forum to create an atmosphere for all issues agitating the teacher unions to be discussed.

She said the forum was made up of personnel from the Ghana Education Service, the National Council for Tertiary Education, the Ministry of Finance, the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, the Public Services Commission as well as the Controller and Accountant General’s Department.

According to her, at the forum, a proposal was made that the unions forego their unpaid arrears as a result of the introduction of the Single Spine Salary Structure but it was rejected by the unions.

She therefore, noted that arrears have paid for 2012 and 2013 while those of 2010 and 2011 remain outstanding.

She said the Fair wages and Salaries Commission is therefore, expected to liaise with the Accountant General’s Department to determine the total cost involved.

Ga South gets municipal court

The Ga South Municipal Assembly now has a  court to make justice delivery more accessible. Located at Weija, the court is also to remove the barrier of distance which impacts on justice delivery, as well as reduces the time spent on delivering justice.

The assembly provided the facilities for the establishment of the district court, which is expected to bring justice on the doorstep of the people.

At the inauguration ceremony at Weija yesterday, Justice Naa Adoley Azu, Justice of the High Court, said a number of factors had militated against the effective operations of the courts and the administration of justice, a situation which had impacted and influenced the justice delivery process in the country.

She mentioned the lack of court houses, the deplorable state of the physical infrastructure housing some of the existing courts and the obsolete equipment and technology which had long been employed in delivering justice.

According to her, the Judicial Service had, for many years, experienced extreme shortage of accommodation (both court and residential) and inadequate supply of facilities to perform its functions.

She said even though it was the responsibility of the service to provide an enabling environment to create a legal and judicial system that promoted the rule of law, transparency and speedy administration of justice, the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) were responsible for providing court houses and residential accommodation for magistrates, something they had found difficult to comply with.

Justice Azu indicated that the Chief Justice had instituted measures to address the challenges confronting the service to improve efficiency and enrich the adjudication process.

She said those included massive court automation, computerisation and the use of state-of-the-art equipment in order to reconcile the justice sector with current technological developments and best practices in the administration of justice.

She said the creation and the inauguration of the Weija District Court formed part of the prioritised reform initiatives of the service and commended the assembly for providing the facilities for the establishment of the court.

She reminded judges and other officials manning the courts to exhibit a high level of professionalism in the discharge of their duties to protect and maintain the good image of the Judicial Service and avoid acts that would bring the administration of justice into disrepute.

The Ga South Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Jerry Akwei Thompson, said the opening of the court in the municipality was timely and appropriate because of the role it was expected to play in checking the numerous disputes, the menace of lands guards, illegal sand winning, noise making and the general lack of discipline and respect for environmental sanitation in the municipality.

He said due to misconceptions about the role of the MMDAs, some people did not appreciate what they were offered and asked the people to study the relevant provisions in their legislation and abide by those rules, so that should they breach any of the provisions and brought before the court, they would not accuse the assembly of witch hunting.

He advised traditional authorities and the people trying to cause mayhem in the communities because of some disagreements over chieftaincy issues to avail themselves of the court to settle issues, instead of resorting to violence, which sometimes resulted in loss of lives and property.

Mr Thompson urged the Judiciary to deal drastically with people such as land guards who were becoming a major threat to peace in the municipality and advised people who used the services of land guards to desist from those activities, since those who would be caught would not be spared.

Forestry Commission to strengthen response team

The Forestry Commission says it is increasing the number of people in the Rapid Response Team of the Commission.

Attacks on rangers of the Commission by criminals led to the commission setting up a specialist rapid response team to provide extra support to rangers on the ground and investigate attacks and murders.

Addressing the media yesterday at a media launch of the third forestry week and greening Ghana Day celebration, the Chief Executive of the Commission Dr. Samuel Afari Dartey said the move has become necessary due to increasing attacks on the rangers.

“We are increasing the numerical strength of our rapid response team and enhance their logistics to enable them to effectively combat these criminals,” Dr. Afari said

He also pledged the Commission’s commitment to protecting the country’s valuable resources saying: “although we dread these losses, both human and forests, I wish to assure the perpetrators of these heinous crimes of our resolve in our commitment to continue to sacrifice to protect these valuable resources.”

He also stated that the Commission has trained a cadre of staff to assist public prosecutors to more effectively and expeditiously dispose off forest and wildlife offences.

“We have also embarked on plantation development to meet the gap and the demand of forest products.

“We can only celebrate the forest for sustainable development when we secure their sustainability even as we utilize them for national development,”he said

Assembly invests over Ghc 8m in development projects

The Atwima-Mponua District Assembly has within the last four years invested more than Ghc8.8 million in development projects across the district.

These include the construction of school blocks, health and sanitation facilities, the extension of electricity, roads, office and staff accommodation and the supply of school furniture.

In all, there are 93 projects, and many of these are already completed with construction works on-going on others.
 

Speaking to Ghanadistricts.com, Mr. Stephen Yeboah, the District Chief Executive  said education had been the number one priority and, therefore, received greater percentage of the development funding.

He said the district was doing everything to improve classroom infrastructure to create the right environment for effective teaching and learning and that the district has two senior high schools (SHS), 73 junior high schools (JHS), 119 primary schools, 120 kindergartens and 20 private schools.

He said the assembly was determined to promote not only access to education, but the quality to raise performance of the pupils and students.

Mr. Yeboah said the assembly was working hard to mobilize resources to complete every single project started to transform the living conditions of the population.

All is well in Gushegu township

The District Chief Executive of Gushegu, Alhassan Fuseini has confirmed the existence of minor skirmishes in the Gushegu township, but insists the situation was under control.

Three people on Tuesday were reported to have lost their lives with several houses burnt as a result of the ongoing strife between the Yiyamba and Berimba communities in the Gushegu district of the Northern Region.region.

Two other people purported to be responding to treatment at the Gushegu Government Hospital with a third person currently in critical condition.

Speaking to ghanadistricts.com, the DCE of Gushegu, Hon. Fuseini revealed that “Gushegu has had its problems since 2008 since the last administration, we came and then made it normal. This has erupted mainly as a [result of a] parcel of land, and this happens in every district in this part of the country”

He also added that, this development was nothing to worry about and that despite the tension in the area elections are often held there without any hindrance.

meanwhile, The Northern Regional Police Public Relations Officer (PRO) ASP Ebenezer Tetteh has also affirmed the ongoing strife and revealed they were as a result of long standing chieftaincy disputes in the area.

Regional Minister presents laptops to nine SHS in Accra

The greater Accra Regional MInister, Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo, has presented 460 laptops to nine Senior High Schools (SHS) in the Greater-Accra Region.

The presentation which formed part of the Better Ghana Agenda ICT Project by the Ministry of the Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, is to enhance the teaching and learning of ICT in the schools, and to also enable the students acquire basic ICT knowledge before they come out of school.

Eight out of the nine beneficiary schools included KASLIN SHS, KAS SHS, Deyoungster’s International School, Jubilee SHS, The Master School, Perfect SHS, First Afternoon SHS and Vitac SHS received 50 computers each while Anmchara SHS received 60 computers.

Nii Agbo said government was keen on providing the necessary logistics and infrastructure for students to enable them develop their potentials for the benefit of the country.

He said ‘in addition to providing infrastructure, government has also made certain interventions, including, the distribution of free school uniforms and exercise books, the introductio

Nii Agbo said the world has become a global village and it is important to ensure that every Ghanaian receives quality Information and Communication Technology education, to make the nation’s human resource competitive on the global market.

“In our quest to become a fully-fledged middle income nation, in the not-too-distant future, the need to develop our human capital cannot be under-estimated. It is an established fact that the key to human capital is knowledge.”

He called on the students to make good use of the computers and other resources at their disposal.

He also appealed to the teachers and school authorities to try as much as possible to complement the efforts of government and use the computers for their intended purpose, as well as ensure that they are properly maintained to serve the present and future generation of students.

n of Teacher Retention Premium, and an increase in the number of schools benefiting from the School Feeding Programme, to make quality education not only accessible, but affordable to all’.