Prof. Yankah, who has a long held view that persons with grades D7 and E8 should be accepted to Ghanaian universities insist that such grades do not connote failure.

“We have for several years now been deluding ourselves into thinking that below A1 to C6 – that is those who get D7 and E8—are not qualified to enter into the university. I think we should begin revising our ideas. In countries like Britain, USA, it is individual universities that determine the cutoff point not the government.”

[contextly_sidebar id=”WwPlS5c6ML2a6Z0N5Om3o2IwVKHRj2Ou”]“I think we should table the whole idea about who qualifies to enter into the university. There is a huge number of boys selling dog chains and iced water on the streets who could be in the university. But we have imposed on ourselves that they have failed. I’m not talking about those who get F9, call them failure if you want to, but D7 and E8, these are not fail grades. We should bring the topic back as a national debate,” prof. Yankah said in an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show on Monday.

When asked whether he was making such a call because some private universities struggle to admit qualified students Prof. Yankah said “absolutely no.”

I can’t bulldoze my way through

Prof. Yankah also explained that, although he is in government, he cannot bulldoze his way through because it could create some uproar in the country.

“I don’t want to make a pronouncement on it. There has to be a shared national consensus on it. Let me come tomorrow and say D7 is now accepted and there will be a whole hullabaloo on it,” he added.

Public Universities in Ghana are not permitted to accept students who had below grade C6 in any of the subjects from the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

There have been varied opinions on the matter.

Whereas some believe grades below A6 – C6 especially D7 and E8 do not mean fail [F9], others argue that accepting such grades would mean lowering standards for university education.

Over 70 students sacked

At the St Vincent College of Education in Yendi in the Northern some two weeks ago, over 70 students of the college were asked to go home for using grade D7 they had in English, Mathematics and Science to gain admission.

According to the school, the decision was taken following a directive from the Executive Secretary for the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE), captured in a letter the school gave one of the affected students and sighted by citifmonline.com.

The letter signed by the Principal of the College, Erasmus Nario Multi said the decision was reached at, during a meeting with principals of public colleges of education “called at the instance of the Minister for Education [Matthew Opoku Prempeh].”

The letter said at the meeting “it was resolved that all unqualified students must be withdrawn from the colleges forthwith.”

“…We have been formally instructed… to withdraw all unqualified students who do not meet the current minimum entry requirements into public colleges of education. It is in line with this directive that we the management of St Vincent College of Education, Yendi are writing to formally inform you that your ward/student….whose submitted grades do not meet the current criterion of entry into a public college of education is withdrawn from the college forthwith,” the letter addressed to one of the affected students added.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Let’s debate cutoff grade for universities – Prof. Yankah appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him, military personnel are only deployed to big mining companies upon request but this has not happened under the current circumstance.

His comment comes on the back claims by the Lands and Natural Resources Minister, John Peter Amewu that the Ghana Armed Force High command deployed some of its personnel to protect galamsey operators in parts of the Ashanti Region.

[contextly_sidebar id=”cxZnjVKvdEULqxoppT6J9IfS3kD3hPDf”]Mr. Amewu made the claims on Monday during his tour of some galamsey sites in the region.

But speaking to Citi News in an interview, the Deputy Defence Minister said the military men the Lands Minister saw were acting on their own accord.

“When the news came up the Chief of Defence staff has been with me and we have spoken at length on this issue. All the commanders at various places – Chief of Air staff, Chief of Army staff and even Chief of Naval staff were skeptical. Everybody doubts where that information is coming from. It is never true that armed forces are providing security for galamseyers.,” he stated.

He said it’s possible that those Mr. Amewu saw were rather impersonating the military.

“If they are legal miners, there is no problem[but] if they were illegal miners and had come to see the Armed Forces [for protection], no. Armed Forces can never and would never do that. I cannot say that he [Amewu] didn’t meet soldiers there. People are impersonating the military…people are wearing anything similar to the outfit of the military…don’t forget that some of the illegal miners are holding arms.”

“All galamsey activities wherever its being taken place they have hidden weapons there. The police and the military are on them looking for those weapons. So it’s not strange that these people are using arms, left alone uniforms in operating, posing as soldiers,” he added.

Russian galamseyers sought protection from Kumbour

The Member of Parliament for the Manso Adubia constituency, Yaw Frimpong had also claimed that some foreigners who were arrested for mining beyond their allotted concession at Tontokrom in the Amansie West District of the Ashanti Region sought protection from the former Minister of Defence, Ben Kumbour.

“I have made enquiries from the former Minister of Defence , Benjamin Kumbour and he said they applied for protection. I did not agree with him initially but later I felt that maybe the government takes some taxes from them so they would want to protect them,” he said on the Citi Breakfast Show on Tuesday.

We’ll investigate soldiers protecting ‘galamseyers’ – Nitiwul 

Meanwhile the Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul has instructed the Chief of Defence Staff, Major General Obed Akwa to immediately begin investigations into allegations of some military men protecting illegal gold mining concessions especially in the Ashanti Region.

He said his outfit will ensure that any military personnel caught  engaged in the illegal act will be duly dealt with.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post No soldiers deployed to protect galamseyers – Derrick Oduro appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.