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.

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

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’.

Koforidua Traders express concern about relocation

koforidua market

The New Juaben Municipal Assembly has given a three months ultimatum to the traders and drivers at the Koforidua-Ho station to relocate to a place yet to be decided by the assembly to make way for the upgrading of the station.

Speaking to the Ghanamps.gov.gh,  Dr. Kwaku Owusu Acheampong, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of the New Juabeng Municipal Assembly, said after the rehabilitation of the station, the lorry park, which is closer to the Central Police Station, will be moved to the Ho station to decongest the area.

Mr. Michael Asiamah, a lotto agent, said upon meeting the assembly, the lotto agents were not given a place to relocate, but were asked to go and look for a suitable place for approval by the assembly.

Mr. Asiamah said they are looking for a place but were facing challenges as the municipality seemed choked up.

Madam Enyonam Duagbor, a food vendor, said food vendors at the station were also asked to look for a place to relocate, but were finding it difficult to get a place.

She said the assembly has promised building a canteen for the food vendors as part of the upgrading of the station, but the food vendors fear that the canteen would not be allocated to them because the assembly might demand some rent advance, which many of the current food vendors might not be able to provide.

Ms. Duagbor also expressed concern about the three months ultimatum given them and said the period is too short a time to find a place to move.

Mr. Ahmed Yakari, the Koforidua-Somanya GPRTU branch chairman, also said the branch executives have also been asked to move their offices from the station, and that, they will meet the assembly within two weeks to deliberate on the issue.