According to the students, attempts to amend sections of the Technical University Act seek to sabotage the effective running of technical universities.

[contextly_sidebar id=”0FBFUqIztyaRZzcTgek9iSz4IFaTvIdz”]Speaking at a press conference on Monday, the National Coordinating Secretary for the union, Abdul Rahman Ibrahim, argued that, technical universities were capable of being autonomous hence must be allowed to operate as such.

“Since the conversion of the polytechnics to technical universities in September 2016, these institutions are still running the same programs as they were when they were polytechnics, and have not been given clearance by the National Council for Technical Education (NCTE) to begin offering a straightaway 4-year degree program. This has largely affected the technical universities and is contributing to low patronage by applicants…In spite of the crippling but avoidable challenge affecting technical universities, government intends to worsen the case of these institutions with unnecessary sections in the technical universities (amendment) bill 2017.”

The students criticized the Education Ministry for championing the cause to cede management of their schools to the NCTE.

They said the Ministry was engaged in acts to promote “oppressive and dictatorial management of tertiary institutions.”

“The proposed amendments, in summary, seeks to take away the autonomy enjoyed by the Technical Universities just as it exists in all other Universities in Ghana. It is beyond reasonable comprehension that the Ministry which is expected to champion and observe best practices in education management has now become the proponent of oppressive and dictatorial management of tertiary institutions.”

While urging the government to reconsider the proposal, the student’s body threatened to stage a protest if the government does not take a positive action on the matter.

TUTAG to strike over NTCE’s attempt to ‘undermine’ technical universities

The Technical University Teachers Association of Ghana (TUTAG), had earlier threatened to embark on strike if some sections of the 2016 Act that establishes Technical universities are amended.

According to the Chairman of the Ho chapter of TUTAG, Albert Laurent Sakabutu, the amendment is going to make it impossible for technical universities to do anything on their own without recourse to the Ministry of Education and the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE).

“We are being told that anything you want to acquire in terms of property you need to seek to approval from the NCTE, this is in clear contravention with the Public Procurement law and the Public Finance Management Act,” he said.

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There is currently an attempt by Parliament to amend portions of the Act.

[contextly_sidebar id=”msgcLQZglYILeG851mPsf2vkxIea98yB”]According to the Chairman of the Ho chapter of TUTAG, Albert Laurent Sakabutu, the amendment is going to make it impossible for technical universities to do anything on their own without recourse to the Ministry of Education and the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE).

“We are being told that anything you want to acquire in terms of property you need to seek to approval from the NCTE, this is in clear contravention with the Public Procurement law and the Public Finance Management Act,” he said.

He noted that what the Ministry of Education and the NCTE are up to is nothing but disruption.

“When you look at section 27, which they seek to amend, that section has given the power to our governing council to enact status, now the ministry together with NCTE are coming up to say we need a harmonized status, so they are finding ways and means of seeking the idea of harmonized status into our law, and so they want to amend that section 27. We feel that this government is up to mischief, and this mischief must not be allowed to stand,” he said.

The Technical University’s Teachers Association of Ghana (TUTAG), called on the President Akufo-Addo and the Minister for Education, Matthew Opoku Prempeh, in October 2017, to stop the National Council for Tertiary Education’s (NCTE) illegal directives being imposed on the various technical universities.

“The NCTE’s directive on ratification of Harmonized Conditions of Service [which varies from one Technical University to the other] contravenes several sections of the Labour Act 2003, Act 651, which relates to the right of workers to negotiate terms and conditions of employment in Ghana. The right of staff of technical universities to negotiate the relevant terms and conditions of service will be denied or severely curtailed if the proposed procedure by NCTE prevails,” Regional TUTAG President, Peter Awuni stated.

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By: Farida Yusif/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Hence, food items will be delivered to various school by suppliers contracted by the Buffer Stock Company for the first term of the academic year.

[contextly_sidebar id=”ugMGMKOrDor2cIcaOIRIflXBmDFuSFk7″]Non- perishable food items will be supplied to boarding schools through the Buffer Stock Company under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to ensure smooth implementation of the Free SHS Policy.

The Buffer Stock Company has been contracted to serve as an interface between suppliers and schools with the sole aim of ensuring quality and providing standardized food products to promote local content.

The list of food items supplied to schools is in strict adherence to the agreed national menu for schools.

The Government’s engagement with the Buffer Stock Company is to ensure that the various Senior High Schools in the country are supplied with locally produced food items in order to create a ready market for local farmers.

50 contracts from various suppliers  to various Senior High School were cancelled by the Ghana National Food Buffer Stock due to non-performance of those suppliers.

This action was taken to ensure that Buffer Stock does not compromise in terms of the timeliness of its delivery.

Presenting the cheque to the CEO of Buffer Stock Company, the Coordinator of Free SHS Program, Mr William Antwi Darkwah, called on Heads of Schools and suppliers to submit their returns to expedite efforts to clear all payments.

The Deputy Food and Agriculture Minister, George Oduro, told Parliament last year that the National Buffer stock company had put in place measures to purchase harvested farm produce from farmers signed unto the Planting for food and jobs programme in connection to implementing government’s flagship programmes ‘Planting for Food and job programme’.

The programme is expected to be rolled out in all 216 districts of the country and will involve the supply of farm resources such as high yielding and improved seedlings to participating farmers.

The government said the programme will create some 750,000 jobs and would motivate farmers to grow staple foods such as maize, millet, and beans.

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By: Farida Yusif/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Professor Kwesi Yankah, Minister of State in Charge of Tertiary Education, said this at a durbar of the chiefs and people of Agona Duakwa held to climax their annual Akwambo festival.

The Minister said each region would get two of the 20 technical schools with modern equipment, adding that the establishment of the technical institutions would commence before the end of 2017.

Prof Yankah said one of the technical schools would be established at Agona Duakwa in the Agona East District of the Central Region.

The Minister said it would offer training to students in carpentry, masonry, electricals, Information and Communication Technology among others.

Prof Yankah said it is the duty of all stakeholders to help provide useful skills training to the youth to help halt migration to towns and cities.

He said plans have been completed for the rehabilitation of the first free national boys’ school established by Nana Kojo Amoakwa, chief of Agona Duakwa, which has been converted into a Junior High School (JHS).

The Minister said after the completion, the ADA JHS would be named after the first Duakwa chief, a great visionary, who died in the 1960s.

Mr. Dennis Armah-Frempong, Agona East District Chief Executive, said the Assembly has made a budgetary allocation in the 2018 composite budget to construct and rehabilitate dilapidated basic school structures.

He said the Assembly has selected cocoa and palm oil for the One District One Factory programme, and urged farmers in the area to invest in these cash crops.

The DCE said thousands of bags of fertilizers and varieties of maize seeds, have been supplied to the farmers at subsidized prices under the Planting Food for and Jobs policy.

He called on the farmers to invest in Planting for Investment initiative, which is the additional programme to the One District One Factory policy.

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Source: GNA

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Government has extended the deadline for the computerized placement system four times in less than two weeks.

The deadline which began with a 48-hour ultimate has now been extended to the end of September 2017.

[contextly_sidebar id=”JaUSKNwev6ekkGcFqeDdt23W9J7ipTkf”]Explaining the reasons for the extension on The Big Issue on Saturday, Chairman of the GES Council, Mr. Michael Kenneth Nsowah said the service still has over 30,000 students out of the 400,000 qualified candidates to post.

“The online registration is being done with a purpose because we have a target to post over 400,00 candidates who have qualified to enter secondary school…At this point when we have done about 386,000, we still have about 30,000 to go.”

“If you say you have closed admissions when in fact you want to get more people into the system then it doesn’t make sense to end the process. Headmasters are now going back to their schools; they have been in Ho the whole week. From Monday they are going to start their admissions so if by the end of today we say the process has ended and when they begin their admissions and realize that more students have not reported, they might need new postings…so if you say you’ve closed, there may be more vacancies which might affect the schools. And that is why after a series of consultations and meetings we’ve decided that we cannot close admissions now,” Mr. Nsowah who is also a former director of  GES noted.

Background

The Computerized School Selection Placement System (CSSPS) which is supposed to post the BECE graduates to their preferred SHS choices initially encountered some challenges, with error notices greeting students who had been trying, since September 1, to access the website for self-placement.

But the government said these problems had been addressed, following the setting up of a new website.

The original website for the self-placement, www.myjhsresult.net, now contains a link that directs users to the new website, www.cssps.gov.gh.

The issues with the CSSPS began when the Ghana Education Service’s (GES) announcement of an extension for the placement of BECE candidates after it emerged that over 100,000 qualified candidates had still not been placed.

The GES later asked qualified students who were not placed to go online and select an option available during the extended window.

Mr. Nsowah on The Big Issue lamented the internet challenges some potential students encountered while accessing the online placement portal but rejected claims that the system was not well thought through.

“We planned well. We were expecting that internet services will be available throughout the country. We were expecting the system to help us achieve our goal,” he added.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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He debunked assertions by the program’s detractors that its implementation is unattainable and implored the populace to grab the opportunity.

Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum was addressing Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) as well as the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) communication members and some selected journalists from the three regions of the north in Tamale.

[contextly_sidebar id=”n9dAly5PfNmlgxw5y3pUoRIkfVAttMIf”]“Many people are casting doubts about the new scholarship program but come what may, the government of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will surely succeed.”

“One of the best things that could ever happen to many Ghanaians especially parents is the fact that they will no longer be burdened with huge school fees to pay for their wards to access senior high school education.”

According to him, thousands of Junior High School graduates could not continue their education because of poverty.

This, he explained informed government’s decision to make second cycle education accessible and affordable with the introduction of the “Free SHS” program.

“Thousands of students who complete Junior High School each year fail to show up at the SHSs they have been placed. The phenomenon is largely attributable to their inability to pay their school fees.

Deputy Northern Regional Minister, Solomon Boar admonished the participants to propagate information on government’s pro-poor programmes ready for implementation.

“I urge you the MMDCEs to form a close collaboration with our party’s communication officers to get the right messages about government policies disseminated to the masses.”

The Bunkprugu Member of Parliament suggested that the MMDCEs should hold weekly meetings with party communicators to avoid communication gaps in the mass media.

“The MMDCEs should make it a point to try and meet the communication officers at least once a week in order to keep the flow of information among the rank and file of the party.”

He also pleaded with party communicators across board to exercise maximum restraint dealing with the MMDCEs.
“I urge you the communication officers to exercise restraint in your dealings with the MMDCEs to boost our party’s unity and strength.”

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By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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According to the Deputy Education Minister, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, the number represents more than 100 percent increase in what has been recorded in previous years.

[contextly_sidebar id=”RrkW0Siu0cHfNiXZVOJlbwVhIsaJ0jAT”]Addressing the media to provide an update on the ongoing SHS placement process, he said the increase was due to the Free SHS program initiative introduced by the New Patriotic Party government.

“This year, because of the Free SHS, there is an increase in the number of people who applied; over 10,000. In the previous year, it has been about 3,000. And every one of them was included in the computer selection process. No child has been left behind in terms of those who were willing to go back to school,” he said.

Release of funds to schools

Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum said the Ministry was engaging the Heads of the various Senior High Schools, to draw a road-map for the release of funds to cover the cost of education of all the Free SHS beneficiaries.

The Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS), has said they are yet to receive funds to cater for the freshers.

Other stakeholders including the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), have urged the government to make the funds available to the schools before it reopens for the 2017/2018 academic year on 11^th September, 2017 to avoid interference in the academic calendar.

But the Minister is optimistic all the needed resources would be made available to the schools on time.

“We’ve given them guidelines as to funds that will come to them and funds that will not come to them and the resources that we’ll send to them,” he said, adding that the government will provide Free SHS resources for first-year students only.

He also reassured parents and prospective Senior High School students that they will be placed in schools they personally choose.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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This is the highest single allocation made to the ministry throughout the year, with the second highest budgetary share of GHs3 billion going to the Ministry of Health.

The two ministries, are part of the ministries under the social sector that received a lump sum allocation of  GHs10.1 billion.

Details are presented in the infographic below.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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The association has in recent times intensified its call on the Ministry to release funds for their feeding grants, which has been in arrears for some three semesters.

But the Ministry in a statement last week said it had paid the amount.

Jonathan Apam, President of TTAG in an interview with Citi News said, “We have checked from NCTE and the money is not there and the Ministry of Education has given us a memo saying that they have given the money to us. So we find this as a deception.”

[contextly_sidebar id=”MHpQGYphet5iLThsfLnnzJp3TmzdSMMy”]He said the Education Ministry must come clear on which agency or institution it purportedly paid the arrears to, so that the association will follow up to receive their monies.

Mr. Apam said he believes the Ministry’s claims of payment is only meant to diffuse the tension created by the association following its public outcry over the situation.

The Ministry in a press statement earlier said it has released a total of GH¢50,532,000 for the payment of grants for public Colleges of Education across the country.

According to a press statement signed by the Head of Public Relations, Dan Osman Mwin, the amount released covers arrears for the second semester of the 2014/15 academic year, as well as the first half of the second semesters of the 2015/16 academic year.

The group attempted to picket at the premises of the Education Ministry and the Ghana Education Service (GES) on Wednesday, to demand the payment of the feeding grants, but were stopped by the Police.

Earlier this year, the government scrapped allowances of teacher and nursing trainees, and promised to pay them feeding grants. But according to TTAG, government has not fulfilled the promise.

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The ministry’s announcement contradicts claims by some members of the Teacher Trainees Association of Ghana (TTAG), that it has not received its feeding grants from government for the past three semesters.

The group attempted to picket at the offices of the Education Ministry and the Ghana Education Service (GES) on Wednesday, to demand the payment of the feeding grants, but were stopped by the Police.

According to a press statement released by the Ministry of Education and signed by the Head of Public Relations, Dan Osman Mwin, the amount released covered arrears for the second semester of the 2014/15 academic year, as well as the first half of the second semesters of the 2015/16 academic year.

The statement said, the Ministry had noted that a request for the outstanding half of the feeding grant for second semester of the 2015/26 academic year, has been made to the Ministry of Finance.

TTAG in an earlier statement copied to citifmonline.com said, “we would like to state our displeasure at the outgoing government for their gross display of negligence and neglect towards the fate of colleges of education and newly trained teachers across the country… the Government of Ghana over the years has treated teacher trainees so poorly and has refused to pay feeding grants to students after the scrapping of the teacher trainees’ allowances and several unfulfilled promises even by top officials like the President and the Vice president.”

Earlier this year, the government scrapped allowances of teacher and nursing trainees, and promised to pay them feeding grants. But according to the President of the Trainee Teachers Association, Ekow Paintsil Djan, the government has not fulfilled the promise.

He told Citi News, “They are owing us for about 3 semesters. For the current first years government owes that GH¢550. For the current level 200, the government owes than GH¢1,200 and those in level 300 government owes them Gh¢1,200 and those that have been posted, government owes them GH¢550.”

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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