According to him, the government must implement the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education policy as stipulated in the constitution, as a more comprehensive solution to problems in the sector.

[contextly_sidebar id=”QDQUsGjnl4HMQQArDWdK3s1p2nXFjRCs”]Dr. Nduom noted that, the challenges at the basic education level need to be addressed first, to serve as solid foundation for the improvement of secondary and tertiary education in the country.

He made the remarks at the 4^th National Convention of the Progress People’s Party (PPP) at Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region.

“Free SHS is good, but it doesn’t go far enough. What Ghana needs is free compulsory and continuous education, and the PPP will continue to push for it,” he said, while addressing thousands of PPP supporters.

The PPP in an earlier communication, said that the New Patriotic Party’s Free SHS policy which came into force in September 2017, will not help to address the backlog of Junior High School graduates who do not further their education because they do not qualify to enter Senior High School.

Meanwhile, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom has urged President Akufo-Addo not to fail in his promise to facilitate the election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) by 2019.

He explained that electing MMDCEs would help ensure development in the country, particularly in rural areas.

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By: Farida Yusif/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Free SHS is good but limited – Nduom appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

While there are over 22,000 Kindergartens across the country, there are only about 800 Senior High Schools in the country.

Holding other factors constant with the assumption that all students move up the various academic stages, the current number of Senior High Schools in the country will in no way be able to admit qualified students to pursue the Senior High School education.

The infographic below captures the breakdown of the number of schools in Ghana.

The data represented in the infographic above are for the 2015/2016 academic year.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Breakdown of the number of schools in Ghana [Infographic] appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

It suggested that while pupils in the kindergarten and lower primary should study only numeracy, literature and physical education, those in upper primary and students in junior high school (JHS) should be made to study six subjects, instead of nine.

In a communique issued at the end of the 24th annual conference of CODE at Abesim, near Sunyani, last Saturday, the conference expressed the view that the use of chalk had outlived its usefulness in schools and, therefore, suggested that blackboards should be replaced with whiteboards and markers provided for use by teachers.

The communique, signed by the National President and the National Secretary of CODE, Mrs Margaret Frempong-Kore, and Mr Isaac Nsiah Edwards, respectively, did not assign any reasons for the proposal to the educational authorities to reduce the number of subjects being studied at the basic level.

However, in an interview, Mrs Frempong-Kore explained that at the Kindergarten and lower primary levels, the major problem now was literacy and numeracy.

“By the time that the child leaves the lower primary, if he cannot read, he cannot grasp other subjects taught at Upper Primary and the JHS levels,” she said.

She further explained that the conference also wanted the subjects taught at the upper primary and the JHS levels to be reduced from nine to six because there was a challenge about reading currently.

Justifying the contention of CODE for the subject to be reduced, Mrs Frempong-Kore said  the subjects had to be reduced to enable the pupils to concentrate on the basics of the subjects they would pursue at the senior high school (SHS) level. “With the low level of reading, studying nine subjects gets the students rather confused,” she added.

Free SHS policy

The CODE, in its communique issued at the end of  its meeting, said as much as CODE supported the free SHS policy, “we recommend an increase in advocacy through the distribution of hard copies of guidelines on the policy”.

It also called for the timely payment of all subsidies in relation to the programme to prevent delayed payments during its implementation, a feature that was associated with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP), the progressively free SHS and the Capitation Grant.

It also expressed concern over the lack of textbooks and, in some cases, inadequacies in the provision of teaching and play materials and called for an immediate solution to the problem.

Pre-school education

“There is a big deficit in the supply of furniture at the basic level,” the communique stated, and suggested that the award of contract for the production and distribution of furniture should be done at the district level to ensure quality,  appropriateness and timely delivery.

“We are suggesting that the construction of new primary schools should have kindergartens attached, while the training of early childhood education teachers should be encouraged by increasing the quota for study leave,” it said.

TVET courses

The communique recommended that facilities at Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions should be redesigned and improved to attract females and persons with disability.

“Effective inputs such as government of Ghana grants, vehicles, residential and office accommodation, as well as office equipment, should be made available to the education directorates for effective delivery of directors’ mandate,” it said.

It said CODE supported the licensing of teachers by the National Teaching Council to improve on teachers’ professional competence, but recommended that there should be more education on the issue.

–

Source: Graphic.com.gh

The post Reduce JHS subjects to 6 — Education directors appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

As they say and which I also share, the task of providing quality education, including girls’ education, is about active collaboration, partnership and participation from all of us.

If education really is a right and we think “All” should benefit from it, as contained in our nation’s educational plans, including the Education Strategic Plan (2010-2020) or so, and which several international conventions on education, such as the Sustainable Development Goals also profess then there is a clarion need for all and sundry to get involved.

Education practitioners and managers should continue to open their doors wide but well secured to allow for true stakeholders, including organisations, corporate bodies and philanthropists to collaborate and participate in providing good quality education to all citizens.

It is true that the Ghana Education Service (GES) is the agency responsible for managing pre-tertiary education in Ghana. And it is true that with the complex nature of its task of ensuring that education activities happen well across the board, the GES has to be supported.

Professor Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa is the new acting Director-General of the GES. This write-up congratulates him and assures readers of a detailed introduction of the learned man in a special edition which shall come soon. Though has been in office for less than a month, Prof Opoku-Amankwa has been all over the place consulting and deliberating with organisations, unions, bodies and with almost everybody just to chart an improved path for our nation’s education.

I should say that all heads of schools, supervisors, officers and education directors know and do appreciate that they cannot and will not pretend to be doing it all alone. Appeals for an effective stakeholder support in education service delivery are being made to all of us regularly and this piece of writing also thinks that the responses, so far, are commendable.

I was privileged to have participated and served as a rapporteur in a two-day Annual Girls’ Education Review Meeting, which happened recently at Koforidua and which some 55 girls’ education officers and officials of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) also attended.

The two-day meeting was under the aegis of the Girls’ Education Unit (GEU) of the Basic Education Division of GES with major sponsorship from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED). This write-up begs to share with readers and members of the general public bits and pieces of what transpired at that meeting.

Mandate of GEU

The GEU, headed by Mrs. Catherine Nutsugah-Mikado, has its functions as follows:

Coordinating with all relevant institutions, Donor Partners (DPs), NGOs, CBOs and government departments and agencies to advance policy and planning of girls’ education;

Establishing a database on girls’ education in order to strengthen the capacity of the GES at the school-community, district, regional and national levels;

Research on issues relating to girls’ education and to disseminate the findings to policy makers, district assemblies and to all relevant stakeholders;

Acting as a pressure group within the Ministry of Education (MoE) to advocate for strategies that advance the implementation of policies related to enhancing girls’ education;

Advocating for bye-laws to boost girls’ enrollment and retention in specific localities;

Collaborating with the Divisions and Units in the GES on gender-related issues;

Liaising with CRDD and textbook writers to correct gender stereotyping in specific subjects and textbooks to ensure gender balance of illustrations and examples;

Examine and develop national and regional strategies for improving enrollment, retention, transition, completion and achievement of girls at the pre-tertiary level;

Advocate for the rights of girls’ education;

Initiate, implement and recommend new interventions for bridging the gender gap;

Collaborate with partners to implement projects related to girls’ education.

The Annual Girls’ Education Review Meeting

The meeting saw the launch of a network of organisations dubbed, “Girls’ Education Network (GEN)”, which shall work with the GEU to promote girls’ education in Ghana.

The GEN, with the support of the Girls’ Education Advisory Body, shall support the GEU in the implementation of its activities and functions.

The GEN, made up of officials of government agencies, civil society organisations, donor partners, educational and research institutions and girls’ education practitioners, is premised on the fact that education, including girls’ education, is fundamental to the promotion of the human rights of the child and it is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty in Ghana.

The Network hopes to create the platform for systematic coordination and monitoring of all efforts geared towards the promotion of girls’ education and for ensuring that all of those efforts are in consonance with the National Vision for Girls’ Education in Ghana.

Welcome Address

Eastern Regional Director of GES Margaret Mensah gave the welcome address, where she lauded the GEU for its initiative of having to assemble key stakeholders towards girls’ education.

She said the initiative should not only be seen as a platform for bringing together organisations but also as an avenue to have the activities of member organisations effectively coordinated and monitored.

Purpose of Meeting

Mrs. Catherine Nutsugah-Mikado informed that the GEU has started registering genuine organisations and institutions which are working on promoting girls’ education in the country. She expressed her displeasure at the way and manner some organisations perform their activities without recourse to the GEU and the GES.

“As we speak, the GEU has recorded 300 organisations which are into girls’ education. The situation where some organisations claim to have been supporting girls’ education without the knowledge of the GEU must stop and I hope that our presence here will help us to know the way out of this situation”, she said.

She praised development partners and girls’ education officers for their hard work and accentuated, “I am happy we are here to share our stories together and to learn from the stories for better performance. But for our girls’ education officers and our partners, we wouldn’t have come to this far in girls’ education as a Unit and as a nation.”

Remarks from Development Partners

An official of UNICEF, Madeez Adamu-Issah, on behalf of the partners, urged all organisations in girls’ education to have their names documented with the GEU and the GES so as to promote effective coordination and monitoring of their activities.

Mr. Adamu-Issah urged the GES to see the organisations working with them as active partners in education other than being looked at as mere sponsors of meetings, workshops and programmes.

Remarks by Acting Deputy Director-General of GES

The Director of Basic Education and acting Director-General of GES, Mrs. Cynthia Bosumtwi-Sam, who was the Guest of Honour, expressed gratitude to the participants for their role at supporting girls’ education and urged them to continue to work hard.

Mrs. Bosumtwi-Sam also affirmed the need for organisations into girls’ education to get registered to allow for effective monitoring and evaluation of their activities in the country.

She charged the participants to propose practical policies and programmes on girls’ education as they strengthen their network with education authorities as to how their policy proposals could be adopted and implemented.

She then launched the GEN and tasked the members to follow due processes and procedures in all of their consultations and deliberations with the GES/GEU and other stakeholders.

Composition of GEN and Girls’ Education Advisory Body

The GEN, with an advisory capacity, has a total of 13 members from each of the following organisations and institutions:

Policy, Budget, Monitoring and Evaluation (PBME) Division of MoE

Basic Education Division of GES

Secondary Education Division of GES

Girls’ Education Division of GES

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)

Development Partners (DFID, USAID, JICA, KOICA, etc)

Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED)

National Development Planning Commission (NDPC)

Department of Social Welfare

Ghana Health Service

Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC)

Representative from NGOs

Key Responsibilities of Girls’ Education Advisory Body

The responsibilities of the Girls’ Education Advisory Body include the following:

Advise the GEU on the establishment of GEN

Counsel on matters of girls’ education relating to the relevance, implementation, effectiveness and review of policies

Advise and support the GEU in the implementation of GEP

Advise the GEU on effective planning and coordination of efforts among implementing stakeholders, including NGOs

Undertake advocacy activities on girls’ education

Advise the GEU on the coordination of activities of organisations working on girls’ education

Upon request or on its own initiative, consider and make recommendations on any matter being considered on girls’ education

Advise the GEU on the development and implementation of girls’ education activities

Convene technical task forces as necessary for specific assignments and activities

Provide guidance and feedback on assignments and activities of the task forces as they deem convenient

In consultation with the membership of the GEN, advise the GEU on steps to align current and future girls’ education interventions in Ghana with the Government of Ghana Gender in Education Policy

In collaboration with the GEU, convene annual review meetings of the GEN to share updates, knowledge, best practices and to develop a plan of action

Modus Operandi of Girls’ Education Network

The GEU shall convene meetings of the Advisory Body with the support from a co-convener. Members of the Advisory Body shall be selected by the Director of GEU, in consultation with the Director-General of GES, and by the request of the organisations and institutions as a member on the Advisory Body serves for a period of not more than three years.

Other activities within the leadership of the GEN are as follows:

The chairperson of the Advisory Body shall convene and chair all meetings

Members shall meet, at least four times in a year, at a place and time as the chairperson may determine

Emergency meetings shall be held with notification of at least 48 hours

Two-thirds of the members present shall constitute a quorum for meetings

The Advisory Body may admit any person(s) or co-opt member(s) to its meetings whenever it considers it appropriate to do so

Decisions shall be determined by consensus among members present

The agenda and minutes of meetings shall be shared with members of the GEN

The Advisory Body may, at any time, appoint any committee that it considers appropriate and to assign to them a task.

Funding of Activities of Girls’ Education Network

The Ghana Education Advisory Body shall receive financial and logistical support from member institutions in organising meetings and stakeholder engagements;

The Advisory Body shall identify other strategies to promote the sustainability of its work beyond its seed funding from DFID through CAMFED.

Remarks by GEU Director on the state of Girls’ Education

Mrs. Catherine Nutsugah-Mikado presented the state of girls’ education in Ghana on behalf of GEU, where she hailed development partners, organisations and other stakeholders, including but not limited to UNICEF, CAMFED Ghana, DFID, World Vision and IBIS for their support to the GEU and girls’ education over the years.

She said the GEU had done several activities to promote girls’ education as follows:

Mapping of CBOs/NGOs into girls’ education, with funding from UNICEF [300 CBOs/NGOs have, so far, been registered]

Developed a directory of CBOs/NGOs into girls’ education with the support of PBME, Institute of Development Studies (UCC), GNECC, ICT Unit of GES and GES EMIS officers at the districts and regions [Directory yet to be published]

Development of a Resource Handbook [Almost 90% complete with unedited copies now available for review. Funding: UNICEF and DFID]

Development of Gender in Education Policy [Work in progress, 3^rd Draft, with funding from UNICEF]

Conducted a case study on girls who dropped out of school due to pregnancy and developed preventive and facilitative strategies for re-integration [Work completed with the Report of key findings yet to be incorporated into the policy guidelines with funding from UNICEF]

Development of guidelines to address pregnancy and schooling issues with funding from UNICEF [Work in progress, 3^rd Draft being developed]

Collection of baseline data in three districts [Jasikan, Atiwa and Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa]

Organised Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programme in two districts, including Jasikan and Atiwa

Organised an Annual Girls’ Education Review meeting with funding from UNICEF

Provided PASS Scholarship to 22,784 girls with funding from DFID [Status: First batch of beneficiaries in their final year of senior high school education]

Development of a website for the GEU with funding from DFID [Work in progress]

Conducting research on the PASS Scholarship programme to ascertain its effectiveness in promoting girls’ education

Capacity building for Girls’ Education Officers with funding from UNESCO [35 officers have been trained so far]

STEM clinics held at Jasikan and Atiwa with funding from UNESCO

The Right to Play supported the training of 65 mathematics and science teachers in Greater Accra Region to promote gender participation in the two subjects.

Solidarity Message from DFID

An official of the Department for International Development (DFID), Susan Mensah, pledged the willingness of the Department to continue to work with the GES and other collaborators in order to promote quality education, including girls’ education, in Ghana.

Activities of Organisations in Girls’ Education

Officials of agencies, organisations and units, such as EMIS of MoE, UNESCO, WFP, British Council, T-TEL, World Vision, CAMFED, Varkey Foundation, IBIS, Right to Play, Discovery Alliance, MURAG, TVM, Guidance and Counselling Unit of GES and ActionAid addressed the participants on the activities of their organisations and institutions in promoting girls’ education.

Presentation by EMIS on Girls’ Education

Mr. Herbert Goeman of the Education Management Information System (EMIS) Unit of MoE presented the modus operandi and the statistical data on girls’ education in the country, and raised a number of issues, including the following:

EMIS collects annual census on education from schools through the district education directorates which usually happens on February 28 and November 30 each year;

EMIS gathers two main types of information, namely; teacher information and school information (i.e. level/state/type/location/address and the kind of educational management of the school as well as the nature of school infrastructure/furniture/buildings/textbooks and school movement/attendance, which covers repeaters and pregnancies).

Gender parity index is 1.01 in primary schools as junior high schools record 0.97 for girls, a development which needs improvement to include senior high and tertiary schools as well.

“Data collection is a Herculean task but could be made simple, accurate and reliable with the support of all stakeholders, including teachers, heads of schools and officers of GES”, Mr. Goeman stated.

Remarks by UNESCO on Girls’ Education

Mr. Odoi Asare of UNESCO made the following observations:

Inadequate financial and human resources lowering the performance of GEU

Low participation of girls in mathematics, science, technology and engineering courses

Limited mandate of GEU to basic schools to blame for low participation of girls in senior high school education

Weak coordination of the activities and performance of girls in education

To resolve the issues, UNESCO said it undertook and would continue to undertake these activities:

Trained about 50% GEU staff on the development, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes on girls’ education [i.e. trained 235 girls’ education officers: 9 at GES HQ in Accra, 10 regional officers and 216 district officers]

Collection of baseline data in three districts (i.e. Jasikan, Atiwa and Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa)

Organised STEM clinics in two districts, such as Jasikan and Atiwa [400 girls participated]

Capacity building of girls’ education officers on project reporting, monitoring and evaluation

Shall organise a series of STEM clinics

Shall have consultative meetings with GEU and stakeholders on promote girls’ education

UN-WEP on Girls’ Education

Magdalene Owusu Moshi of the United Nations World Food Programme outlined the following activities as their contributions to girls’ education in Ghana:

Supporting GEU to address Gender Parity Gaps (GPGs) in junior high schools in Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions since 1998

Conducted a market assessment in February 2016 on girls who dropped out of school and who were involved in child labour

Distributed nutrition-sensitive packages to girls with 80% attendance at junior high schools

Involved in sexual and reproductive health sensitisation programmes

Distributed items like iodised salt, pulses, and oil [The distribution exercise happened after classes in the afternoon]

UNESCO to provide girls in Volta, Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions with cash transfers and which shall be paid to their parents or care-givers through financial institutions

Remarks by British Council on Girls’ Education

Official of the British Council Michael Owusu-Preko said that the Council has been involved in the management of scholarships, including the Vodafone Ghana Foundation’s scholarship, which supports girls, who are interested in the study of science at the senior high school level.

Mr. Owusu-Preko informed that the Vodafone Scholarship is intended to support needy girls with high academic grades as the British Council organises camps for girls, where they are mentored on a wide range of skills, including financial skills.

According to him, the Council awards 100 children per year with each child receiving Ghc3, 000.00 with textbooks also given to them to enable them attend extended classes.

Activities of T-TEL in Girls’ Education

Speaking on the contributions of the Transforming Teacher Education and Learning (T-TEL) programme to girls’ education, Ms. Marjorie Tackie, said the programme was a four-year Government of Government’s programme, supported by the UK Department for DFID, to transform the delivery of pre-service teacher education in Ghana.

Ms. Tackie named the following activities of T-TEL in promoting girls’ education:

Piloting of a Gender Handbook for Teaching Practice Mentors at Bongo and KEEA districts [Report to be completed by July 2017]

Planning for a sexual harassment study in Colleges of Education [Study to start by January 2018]

On behalf of T-TEL, she acknowledged GEU as an important partner in raising the issue of gender parity in education within the MoE and teacher education structures in Ghana.

World Vision International on Girls’ Education

World Vision’s Gregory Dery identified the organisation’s activities as follows:

Conducted a training programme on reading improvement for teachers of kindergarten and lower primary schools in the 25 beneficiary districts

Formation and strengthening of reading camps in beneficiary communities

Distributed bicycles to 3000 vulnerable girls in some rural communities in Kassena-Nankana West District

Provided schools with gender-separated KVIPs with menstrual hygiene management units Provided safe drinking water through bore holes

Facilitated the formation and operations of savings groups in communities to improve the income levels of parents and guardians

Trained farmers on improved crop and livestock production

Provided 350 farmers with resources to improve crop and livestock production

Ended violence-against-children campaign with documentaries with TV3 on child marriage at Nkwanta, teenage pregnancy and child exploitation at Kintampo and child trafficking at Krachi

Building children’s life skills and resilience in life

Formation and strengthening of district and community child protection committees, including child online protection

 CAMFED on Girls’ Education

Led by Deloris Dickson, CAMFED did the following major activities in girls’ education:

Granted scholarship packages to girls in senior high schools

Gave out comprehensive scholarship packages to girls in tertiary education

Registered 17,786 past beneficiaries who are now members of the CAMFED Alumni

CAMFED’s projects have helped 387 primary schools, 332 junior high and 101 senior high schools in 31 districts of Central, Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions

Activities of Varkey Foundation in Girls’ Education

According to Muniratu Issifu, Varkey Foundation undertook the following major activities:

Building the capacity of teachers on girls’ education

Conducted advocacy campaigns in teaching practice at the highest level of policy making

Rolled out the MGCubed GEC Transition Programme

Executed a programme dubbed, “Train for Tomorrow” in Eastern Region

Did the programme, “Train to Reach Remote Classrooms” with a pilot project in 142 classrooms in 72 public schools within two regions [Helped girls in grades 2 to 5 in mathematics and science as “wonder women” met after school to learn life skills and gender equality issues. Programme was implemented from July 2013 to April 2017]

Activities of IBIS in Girls’ Education

Mr. Wumbei Dokurugu led the discussion on the activities of IBIS Ghana as follows:

Built a model school which is sensitive to the needs of the girls

Professional development of teachers using learner-centred methodology and gender-sensitive pedagogy

Promotion of Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHRs)

Empowerment of SMCs and PTAs

Use of Girls’ Parliament, an innovation to improve girls’ speaking and debating skills on matters of human rights and reproductive health

Provision of in-school supervision and teacher-support services

Provision of ICT laboratories, science laboratories, libraries and hostel accommodation facilities

Activities of “Right to Play” in Girls’ Education

Mr. Dao Kwabena presented the activities of the Right to Play as follows:

Used child rights clubs to raise awareness of parents on the learning needs of children

Organised play days using child rights clubs

Organised school-cluster-outreach programmes focusing on menstrual hygiene management

Established a “Community of Practice” programme for teachers and district officials

Activities of Discovery Alliance in Girls’ Education

Mr. Julius Agbeko did the presentation for Discovery Alliance as follows:

Established 40 learning centres in Accra and Kumasi [42,354 students and 1,157 teachers have benefited from the activities of the learning centres]

Trained over 15,000 educators on girls’ educational issues

Formed 1,190 girls’ clubs in the beneficiary communities

Empowered 839 communities on girls’ education using Community Action Plans

Activities of MURAG in Girls’ Education

An official of the Muslims Relief Association of Ghana (MURAG) revealed activities as follows:

Improved the rights of children, especially those in secular education

Organised sensitive workshops for Muslim stakeholders in 14 districts

Increased enrollment and retention of Muslim girls in schools

Organised a total of 14 workshops in seven districts in five regions

Organised advocacy workshops on the right age for school enrollment and the need to enroll vulnerable children in schools

Created awareness on the benefits of girls’ education

Activities of TVM in Girls’ Education

Mr. Jeffrey Baa-Poku of the True Vine Ministry (TVM) identified the following major activities:

Providing hope and redirecting teenage mothers in deprived communities in Ghana

Using research, counselling and health education to improve girls’ education

Projects like Back-to-School Project and Kids-in-School Project shall start in September 2017

The TVM Scholarship Fund to support needy girls in school is yet to be rolled out

Activities of Guidance and Counselling Unit in Girls’ Education

Mr. Roland Takyi of the Guidance and Counselling Unit of GES identified the following activities:

Provided all districts and schools, especially senior high schools with trained counselors

Encouraging counsellors to support children, including girls, with orientation, appraisal and career guidance services

Tackling cases of abuse and corporal punishment in schools and institutions

Activities of ActionAid in Girls’ Education

Sumaila Abdul-Rahman of ActionAid stated the following activities:

Formation of boys and girls camps

Working with the beneficiary districts to create girl-friendly learning conditions in schools, including the supply of classroom infrastructure and textbooks

Using legal procedures to seek justice for abused girls and those into forced marriages

Constructed girl-friendly classrooms, including changing rooms and violence-reporting rooms

Activities of UNICEF in Girls’ Education             

Madeez Adamu-Issah of UNICEF identified the following activities of the Fund:

Identified vulnerable groups, especially girls, within the beneficiary communities

Supported girls with menstrual hygiene management and child protection services

Provided healthcare services to girls living with HIV/AIDS

Organised nutrition-related and WASH programmes

Involved in the activities of the Complementary Basic Education programme

Involved in Inclusive Education activities with vulnerable groups and persons with disabilities

Involved in Communication for Development activities like capacity building, sensitisation and partnership with key stakeholders on the right age for school enrollment, retention and completion

Organised sporting activities for improved school enrollment and student leadership

Working with MURAG to create awareness among Muslim leaders on girls’ education

Involved in planning and policy implementation activities (i.e. NESAR, SPAM/SPIP development and ADEOPs)

Organised gender-sensitive INSET using the District Teacher Support and Training (DTST) module

Supplied teaching and learning materials for improved girls’ education

Working with School Health Education Programme (SHEP) and the Guidance and Counselling Unit to provide safe and protective schools for children, including girls

Involved in cross-cutting activities like research, documentation, curriculum review and development, and in the development teaching manuals for enhanced girls’ education

Shall roll out a programme from 2018 to 2022 to address issues of equity and quality of girls’ education (i.e. using girls as an entry point to promote school enrollment, retention, completion and transition; and to improve learning outcomes among girls)

Review Questions for Enhanced Performance

Each presentation of the organisations on their roles in girls’ education attracted varied questions from the participants, some of which are as follows:

What is the nature of the public-private budgetary support to the GEU for girls’ education activities in Ghana?

What is the nature of coordination and monitoring activities of girls’ education within the GES?

What are the areas of capacity building for teachers as used by the GEU?

What is the nature of the website of GEU?

What are the outcomes of activities of the GEU in promoting girls’ education in Ghana?

What are the policies for promoting girls’ education in Ghana?

What is the state of the Girls in Education Policy?

What are the timelines for executing plans that promote girls’ education in Ghana?

What are the criteria for selecting the districts for STEM programmes?

What are the criteria for selecting the beneficiaries of the various scholarship schemes and what are their levels of sustainability?

What are the criteria for selecting and distributing educational materials and other packages to beneficiary schools and pupils?

What are the mechanisms for avoiding duplication of activities of organisations in the schools?

How are the activities of the organisations integrated into the school curriculum?

What are the organisations into child protection doing to tackle forced marriage?

What are the records on the distribution of counsellors in schools and institutions?

How are pupils and students supported in school selection and placement?

What is the level of collaboration between school counsellors and girls’ education coordinators?

How are the issues of confidentiality and community relations managed in child protection activities of the organisations?

How are the girls empowered to give evidence of acts of abuse and sexual harassments?

How can the organisations strengthen their network with other organisations in the performance of their functions?

What is the capacity and tenure of the girls’ education officers?

Planning Activities of the Participants

The two-day meeting yielded important points for action and led by Madeez Adamu-Issah of UNICEF, the House decided on the following points as their resolution and the way forward:

Efforts shall be made to strengthen the activities of the GEN.

Regional girls’ education officers should report the outcome of the Meeting to their directors of education for them to also engage the organisations working in their jurisdictions.

Efforts should be made to complete and to share copies of the map of organisations in girls’ education to promote coordination and monitoring.

The schools and districts should be empowered to strengthen their collaboration and partnership activities with stakeholders and organisations.

Efforts should be made to allow for proper and timely analysis of all EMIS data on girls’ education.

Organisations should be supported to identify the key plans and vision of the GEU to enable them work towards achieving key outputs within the Education Strategy Plan.

The Annual Girls’ Education Review meetings should be replicated in all regions for key stakeholders like chiefs, opinion leaders and assembly members to also participate.

The GEU should develop Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for organisations into girls’ education to follow in the performance of their duties.

There is a need for the GEN to link up with agencies like the District Assemblies and the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) for support in promoting girls’ education.

Organisations should use role models like opinion leaders, alumni and celebrities to sensitise parents and community members on girls’ education.

Local communities and schools should be sensitised on the maintenance and protection of school facilities at all times.

The issue of decentralisation in education should be made to work.

Obnoxious beliefs on girls’ education should be identified and revised.

Civil society organisations should be effectively involved in girls’ education.

National girls’ education officers should be supported to effectively coordinate and to monitor all girls’ education activities in the regions, districts and schools.

Every activity on girls’ education in schools and at the districts should correlate with the objectives of GEU/GES and MoE.

Girls should be encouraged to do STEM courses in schools, colleges and universities.

Issues of girls’ education should be backed by policy.

Conclusion

It is not the case that the writer has been briefed or has read all of this stuff somewhere. He did witness proceedings himself and without any shred of equivocation, he stands to say that majority of development partners and organisations operating in education in Ghana are doing well. As we applaud the good performing ones, we appeal to those that have not yet registered with the GEU/GES to do so and to be part of the Girls’ Education Network as soon as practicable.

By: Anthony Kwaku Amoah (The writer is an educationist and a public relations officer at the Headquarters of Ghana Education Service. – E-mail: [email protected])

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The Professor of Total Quality Management said the teaching-learning process from the lowest level to the highest level of education has been stagnant for many years although there has been a lot of talk and activity around changing and modifying educational curriculum in the country.

According to her, these processes are not managed with quality assurance in mind or quality management methods in place.

“I feel very strongly that it is time for us as a country to reexamine our educational system and ensure that we have one that works for us, because if it doesn’t work the question of quality needs to be asked and asked strongly or else, we rethink the whole educational system,” she said.

“As a quality management professional, I believe in continual improvement and so I would say that yes, there is some room ¬¬for improvement and that is what we should be looking at.

“Improvement in the way we design our curriculum, our instructional methodology and simply put the way we teach.”
She added “the way we look at the sorts of learning outcomes that we are supposed to achieve, how we know whether what we are doing is working for us or not, whether there is any system at all to ensure that in terms of strict regulation is important.

“For now, we are all just talking, and the graduates are not feeling the expectations of industry. And the whole thing to me is looking like a system of certification instead of education, a scary phenomenon we should shy away from if we want to make global impact and produce for ourselves some quality problem solvers in the country,” she stated strongly.

Professor Alabi will address an inaugural lecture on Wednesday April 26, 2017 where she is expected to raise the key issues regarding the Quality of Education in Ghana.

The lecture is to celebrate he feat of attaining full professorship status in June 2016.

Ahead of the lecture, she has been engaging her followers on some of these key issues on Facebook and other social media platforms.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The College, affiliated to the University of Education, Winneba, is poised to among other things help government revamp the jewelry industry in the country.

Speaking at the inauguration, Kwabena Asante-Asare, the Founder of ACDT, said the College has made a lot of investment in infrastructure and tools to equip its students with skills that will make them employable.

He said the College also seeks to assist students set up their own businesses to help address the country’s worsening unemployment situation.

Mr. Asante-Asare was confident that students of the school will make products high in quality and up to international standards.

“We would have Ghanaians design products with the same quality that can compete with products from anywhere in the world. This will help create young self-employed entrepreneurs to reduce the unemployment situation in Ghana,” he said.

Mr Asante-Asare said a state-of-the-art workshop at the College, would support the practical aspect of the courses.

The Member of Parliament for the Fanteakwa North Constituency, Kwabena Amankwah Asiamah, who was the guest of honour at the inauguration, expressed excitement the College would help create many jobs for Ghana’s teeming youth.

He noted that, the training of more youth in gold works and product designing, would spur up growth in the local economy.

Dr. Emmanuel Amankwah Asante, the President of ACDT in his address, said the school had acquired state-of-the-art workshop equipment to enhance practical teaching and learning.

He was confident that the school had made adequate preparations to produce graduates whose skill will be highly patronized.

He revealed that, work was underway at the school’s main campus at Oyarifa, which will open up the school to admit and train more students when opened.

ACDT was accredited by the National Accreditation Board in December 2016, with an initial operation license valid until November 30, 2019.

It had earlier in August 2016 acquired approval to be affiliated to the University of Education, Winneba.

It currently has accreditation to run a Bachelor of Arts degree programme in Jewelry Design Technology.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The Tumu based non-governmental organisation also noted that worldwide, more children 89 per cent went to school but that was not the case for children with disabilities.

Mr Moses Batong, Programmes Manager for SAVE-Ghana disclosed this in a press release issued by the organisation to mark the Worldwide Campaign for Children with Disabilities in Tumu in the Sissala East District of the Upper West Region.

He said that in the low and middle-income countries, one could hardly find 10 per cent of children with disabilities in school, hence the campaign “to ensure that all children with any form of disability had access to appropriate educational programmes”.

Mr Batong said more than 25,000 primary school pupils in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America would participate in the annual international event “We Ring The Bell” campaign to draw attention to the right to education of children with disabilities who were not able or not allowed to go to school.

He said specifically 560 schools and 100,000 children in the Netherlands and more than 365 schools and 25,000 children in 23 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America participated in the campaign.

He said in Ghana, 16 primary schools participated in the campaign and that SAVE-Ghana marked the day together with pupils of the Tumu United Primary Schools.

The SAVE-Ghana Programmes Manager said these primary school pupils all over the world made as much noise as possible for one minute in their schoolyards, using bells, drums and others to attract the attention of policy makers and other stakeholders who were in the position to make and influence policies that would help eliminate the barriers that prevented children with disabilities from going to school.

“We Ring the Bell” is an initiative of the Dutch Liliane Fund and SAVE-Ghana is the local collaborator in Ghana.

With support from the organisation, SAVE-Ghana supported a number of children with disabilities to access education and other economic ventures.

Mr Batong said much however needed to be done in in Ghana and throughout the world, adding that schools needed to become more accessible for children with disabilities.

“Teachers and teaching materials must meet the needs of these children. Everyone should become aware of the fact that education is a fundamental right for all including children with disabilities”, he said.

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Source: GNA

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They are Sekina Ahmed, Emmanuel Gyeni Blay, Ebenezer Anane, Philip Danyomah and Lucy Onso-Nyameye Ama Ngofuoh.

Ahmed and Blay were honoured at the Junior High School (JHS) category while Anane, Danyomah and Ngofuoh were honoured at the Senior High School (SHS) category.

Gyeni from the Nzemamaanle Complex School in Half-Assini scored aggregate six in the BECE, while Ahmed of Tikobo No.1 D/A JHS had aggregate nine with Ngofuoh of Armokwaw-Suazo D/A JHS obtaining aggregate 14.

Anane and Danyomah both of the Half-Assini Senior High School obtained aggregates eight and 14 respectively in the WASSCE.

They each received a Certificate and an undisclosed amount of money.

Their awards formed part of the 60th Independence anniversary celebration in the Jomoro District.

The event under the theme ‘Mobilizing for Ghana’s Future’, took place at the Half-Assini Senior High School Park and was attended by more than two thousand people including 20 basic schools and two SHSs in the District.

The District Coordinating Director, Mr Boffour Ahmed Haruna, who is also the Acting District Chief Executive, addressed the ceremony on behalf of the President Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo-Addo.

He earlier inspected a parade of School Children, Cadet Corps and Voluntary Organisations and also took the salute with assistance of ASP Charles Mensah, District Crime Officer.

Catholic JHS and Christian Academy both of Half-Assini were the best schools in the march past and were presented with a plaque and certificate each.

The ceremony was attended by the Member of Parliament for the area, Mr Paul Essien together with traditional rulers, security agencies, workers and the general public.

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Source: GNA

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Many of the projects include classroom blocks, dining halls, Libraries and dormitories.

Mr Kobina Bedu -Addo, Spokesperson for the 1989/91 year group of the St John’s School in Sekondi in the Western Region, made the call when the year group handed over a refurbished ground floor of a two unit three story building to the school on Friday.

According to him the two unit three storey building was initiated in the Kufuor administration but had failed to see the light of the day.

Mr Bedu-Addo said, as a result the year group raised GH₵ 20,000 to put the ground floor of the facility in a habitable shape to accommodate the ever-growing student population.

He said the group worked on six classrooms by providing electricity, wire mesh, louvres, paint and levelled the floor.

Mr Bedu-Addo said when the project is completed it would ease congestion and overcrowding in the classrooms.

He said it was imperative for such unfinished projects to be completed in good time to reduce pressure as well as ensure a congenial atmosphere for learning.

Mr. Anthony Jonathan Mensah, the Head Master of the School said the facility had very dusty floors, dirty wall, with no Louvre frames and blades.

“Our deepest appreciation to the 89/91 year group for thinking about their younger ones and committing their hard-earned resources into serving their Alma mater,” he said.

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Source: GNA

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The students comprised 668 males and 306 females.

They pursued various programmes in Bachelor in Technology, Higher National Diploma and non-tertiary courses.

Professor Emmanuel Sakyi, acting Vice-Chancellor, said the HTU was a brand and asked the students to count themselves blessed to be the pioneering students.

He asked them to be good ambassadors and use proper channels of communication during their stay in the university, urging them to aspire to levels of excellence and proficiency.

HTU, formerly, Ho Polytechnic, was converted into a Technical University following the passage of the Technical Universities Act 2016 (ACT 922).

It was tasked with the mandate to award degrees, diplomas, certificates and other qualifications to the highest levels in engineering, science and technology- based disciplines, technical and vocational education and training, applied arts and related disciplines.

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Source: GNA

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