According to him, the education of the youth is a “core value” of Danish culture, with the state willing to support the academic exploits of students.

[contextly_sidebar id=”SUibzQizvlhBiWEPnon6c2gUBIa0avZx”]”[Free education] has been like this for many years in Denmark.  I’ve never experienced anything else, it’s free to have education in Denmark. There’s also a support system for people who are studying, so they have support from the state,” he said in an interview with Citi FM‘s Bernard Avle.

“We can always have a discussion on whether we have the right balance, but it is the core value in Denmark and our democracy is built on the old school reforms – they are more than 100 years old – where it was an obligation for people to go to school and it was supported by the state. Funding came from a very high tech level. We tax persons more than 50 percent on average, we have all kinds of taxes which are of course needed when you want to have a big public sector.”

He stated that the importance of education to the development of the country had been firmly established in the Scandinavian nation

As a result, despite his own preference for the taxes to be lowered, the citizens are more than happy to pay the high taxes to ensure that their wards have access to quality educational services.

“Our main focus is on education. We need to educate our population so that they are able to reach out for new opportunities. I have a son who’s 26 years old, and is now working with Microsoft in Copenhagen, but I don’t understand what he’s working on. The next generation will see new opportunities that we cannot even imagine today. What we can do is to educate them so that they can have a chance to reach out for new opportunities,” he said.

“You could find another balance as a liberal, I would like to see it lowered a little bit so we could have a bigger private sector, but that is more of an ideological debate.”

‘Great potential’

Anders Samuelsen praised Ghana’s democratic credentials which he said had earned it respect around the globe, and had positioned the West African country as a great destination for potential investors.

“Ghana is a great example of the potential we see in Africa. [Ghana] is one of the examples people look up to and that’s one of the reasons why our Queen is looking forward to this visit. You have a good story and a good track record and we have the same focus in trying to develop human rights, democracy and respect for law and order, and at the same time, we have a common view on trade as being one of the most important ways to get people out of poverty to middle-class standard and thereby being able to live the life they dream of,” he said.

Ghana’s Free SHS education

In Ghana, very few people in the formal sector pay taxes while the majority of the population in the informal sector are not captured in the tax net.

In spite of this, and the fact that the country largely depends on donor funding to support its budget, the government has implemented a policy to offer free Senior High School education.

The initial stages of the policy, which is to cost the government some Ghc400 million for the first academic year, has been fraught with infrastructural challenges in many schools.

Government has so far not disbursed all the monies needed by the schools to cater for the first year students who are the beginners for the policy’s implementation.

There have been concerns about how the country intends to fund the programme, sustain it and also maintain quality education, considering that the economy largely thrives on importation and services with very little focus on industrialization.

Danish queen’s visit

Citi FM’s reports from Denmark come ahead of the official State Visit of Denmark’s Head of State, Her Majesty the Queen Margrethe II, from November 23 to November 24.

The 3-day press trip to Denmark was organised for four selected Ghanaian journalists, including Citi Breakfast Show host, Bernard Koku Avle.

The press trip will be capped with a press conference with Queen Margrethe II.

The Queen, on her eventual historic visit to Ghana, is expected to be accompanied by a Danish business delegation within three focus sectors, namely food & agriculture, sustainability, maritime, infrastructure and railways.

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By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Higher taxes fund free education – Danish Foreign Minister appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Minister of Planning, Professor Gyan Baffour on Wednesday revealed that government is monitoring the three-year SHS system to inform a possible review to back to four years.

[contextly_sidebar id=”R5bkZc9epcGAoaKnDJL1JHXWYFD0T9NA”]The NPP administration under President John Kufuor introduced the 4-year Senior High School programme in 2007. However, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) reverted to the 3-year system after it regained power in 2009.

Speaking at the launch of the Ghana Social Development Outlook 2016 at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research, Prof. Gyan Baffour noted that, the limited time allotted for secondary education inhibited a thorough treatment of the syllabus.

The first cause of action for the government is to assess how effective the three years is being used.

The Minster noted that, the three years under the current system, is effectively about two-and-a-half-years, so the government will look “to make sure that this ‘three years’ [actually] becomes almost three years.”

“The time lost, we have to make it up. That is the first thing that we are trying to do now, and based on that, we can now use the analysis that they do after that time, to see what the public thinks and to decide on whether we move for three years or four years.”

This assessment will find out whether if they are given enough time within the three-year period, the students will do better than they have been doing with the two-and-half-year period.

Cost won’t be a problem

The government is already implementing its major educational reform with the free SHS policy, and Prof. Baffour reminded that these interventions in secondary education are to make sure that money is not an obstruction to parents and their wards.

Thus if a change to four years is deemed necessary, then money will not be considered a problem, in line with providing quality education, in addition to the free education.

He further suggested that public opinion could play a part in whether the change in duration happens.

“…If it is found out the four years is better than three years in training our children, then money should not be the basis in denying them that four years… It is not only access, but it also includes quality, and if it is four years that will give them quality and that is what the people want, so be it.”

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By: Sixtus Dong Ullo/Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post NPP considering 4-years SHS duration again appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to the Education Minister, who was addressing heads of high schools in Kumasi, head-teachers would have to justify their continued stay accounting to the Ghana Education Service (GES) if they superintend poor examination results.

[contextly_sidebar id=”w057mCPKwTb4rxPFBMrV2pvmyyk9wTqK”]But reacting to the comments, which GNAT describes as a threat, the General Secretary of the Association, David Ofori Acheampong, said the Dr. Opoku Prempeh should have consulted with teachers on his position.

“We don’t think it is appropriate. I believe that there are so many problems confronting education in Ghana so if you come, I think the best thing is for us to have a consultative meeting. Let us discuss the challenges and see how we can resolve the problems.”

Mr. Acheampong also suggested that, it would be unfair to lay the blame for the failure rate of schools at the feet of head-teachers.

“I don’t know who gave him advice on this particular matter, but I think that if you want to trace the challenges and problems that have resulted in the low performance of some of our students, we cannot lay it wholly on the doorsteps of the teachers.”

“The very people who you are going to work with, the very people who are going to support you are the people you are threatening without even giving them a hearing, it is not proper,” Mr. Acheampong asserted.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post GNAT angry with Minister over threat to sack head-teachers appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Mahama’s administration is currently running what it calls a progressively free Senior High School education policy.

[contextly_sidebar id=”YwYrAGSF7KzunxOnkpeYGY1zQMLlcu9h”]The President made the announcement on Wednesday while addressing students of the University of Cape Coast as part of his five-day tour of the Central Region.

“I wish to assure you that, as Ghana’s GDP continues to grow and as you continue to make wealth, we will continue to make tertiary education progressively free so that you pay less fees. In the meantime; we are investing heavily in tertiary education in order to make the teaching and learning experience good for you.”

President Mahama also said the amount of money his government is investing in tertiary education “is really massive and that is supposed to improve the quality of teaching and learning in our universities.”

Poly conversions

Government has so far converted six polytechnics in the country into what it calls technical universities.

But critics have expressed skepticism about the viability of the conversion saying the concept has not been well-thought through.

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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana

&nbsFollow @AlloteyGodwin

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The post Mahama promises free tertiary education if… appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, unanimously ordered Alfred Agbesi Woyome, to refund GhȻ 51.2 million, paid to him by the state as judgment debt.

Some groups and individuals, including pressure group the Alliance for Accountable Government (AFAG), have called for the prosecution of the former attorney general and her deputy at the time, Ebo Barton Oduro.

They believe the two should face punishment for their roles in the payment of the money to Mr. Woyome.

Mr. Dadzie, told Citi News the Supreme Court ruling ordering Mr. Woyome to refund the money it says was wrongfully paid him, does not implicate his client in any way.

He believes that, for any charge to be brought against his client, a proper investigation must be conducted “and not because some people jump into the air and say arrest her.”

According to Mr. Dadzie, “two years ago, after a huge clamour for her arrest,… we explained our position” on the matter “” after being questioned by the police.

“We faced them [the police].

“They asked questions, we explained and produced documents,” he stated.

He added that the calls for her arrest were nothing new, but insisted that they were not democratic.

By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Betty Mould’s lawyer dismisses calls for her arrest appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.