Additionally, 11,985, representing 58 percent of the basic schools, do not have water facilities.

For instance, out of the 3,754 public basic schools in the Ashanti Region, 1,427 are without toilet facilities, and in the Western Region 1,132 out of the 2,408 schools are without toilets.

[contextly_sidebar id=”LwUEj5CD4e5B1gtP6wkH5YjpBS56m5mw”]In the Upper West Region, out of the 1,165 schools, 350 are without toilets.

Access to regular water supply

According to the Education Management Information System (EMIS) for the 2016-2017 academic year, even though about 65 percent of all basic schools had latrines, only 42 percent had access to water supply.

The EMIS indicates that the lack of access to regular water supply sources had made it difficult for students to use school latrines or to encourage positive hygienic practices and habits.

To address the above challenges, the Ministry of Education, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resource, Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, the Ministry of Health and other stakeholders, has developed a strategic document which seeks to provide children with a clean, safe and healthy learning environment.

Known as the National Costed Strategy for WASH in Schools (WinS), the strategic document, which is expected to be implemented from 2018 to 2030, seeks to cover public basic schools, including all public kindergartens, primary and junior high schools (JHS).

At a stakeholders’ consultation workshop to validate the strategic document in Accra, the Chief of WASH at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Mr David Duncan, painted a rather gloomy state of hygiene in schools in the country.

He said for instance that two out of every five children went to school without toilet facilities and were forced to defecate in the open, while more than half of schoolchildren attended schools that had no water facilities.

Major challenge

Describing it as a major challenge, Mr Duncan said if the current trend was allowed to persist, it meant that “we are looking at a whole generation of children potentially going to school without toilet and without water to wash their hands.”

He said the strategic document sought to identify what the country needed to do in order to ensure that the future generation did not go to school without those facilities.

“What we have to do is to make sure that we have toilets in all schools, what we have to do is to make sure that we have water in all schools and what we have to do is to ensure that all children have access to water to wash their hands,” Mr Duncan later told the Daily Graphic.

He explained that in the last few years, UNICEF had channelled millions of dollars into the sector and that for this year alone, it had spent $4 million on WASH in schools.

Owning the strategic document

The Director of the School Health Education Programme (SHEP) of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Nana Esi Inkoom, explained that the strategy was developed with technical and financial support from UNICEF.

She also expressed gratitude to the government of Canada and other stakeholders “for the immense support towards the development of the strategic document.”

Nana Inkoom said the strategy would provide guidance and direction in translating the National Minimum Standards and Implementation Modules for WASH in Schools into practice, using common approaches across schools in the country.

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By: Graphic Online/Ghana

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The vaccines were expected to arrive over the weekend, but the Ministry in a press statement said suppliers had indicated that there will be a slight delay in the delivery.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Ru3L8AwVkArHXnqP9M5yQ971yU6iu83Q”]“The Ministry of Health with the support of the World Health Organisation, WHO, have procured vaccines and have taken steps to airlift them to Ghana for urgent use.

The Ministry says inasmuch as efforts are being made to facilitate the process, the supplier has indicated that there will be a slight delay in delivery.

“It is expected that; the vaccine will arrive in Accra by the middle of next week. The Ministry of Health and WHO are closely following up to ensure this is expedited. The vaccines will be immediately deployed for immediate use on arrival. We will keep you updated on any new development,” the statement said.

Apart from the vaccines, the country was also expected to take delivery of the anti-viral agents Tamiflu from the World Health Organization, as part of measures to combat the threat of the disease.

The drug, Tamiflu, was given to tens of thousands of people during the swine flu pandemic in 2009.

The disease has been detected in at least a dozen students of Kumasi Academy in the Ashanti Region, where four students are suspected to have died from it.

The school’s students and staff were administered some other antiviral agents, and the school was also fumigated, following the detection of the swine flu.

Aside from the suspected outbreak of swine flu at Kumasi Academy, a death from meningitis was recorded at the Koforidua Secondary Technical School in the Eastern Region.

Other meningitis deaths were recorded at the Damango Senior High School in the Northern Region and the Bawku Secondary Technical and Tempane SHS both in the Upper East Region.

Response action

The Ministry in the statement also outlined measures it had taken to prevent a further spread of the disease .

These measures are listed below :

1. Alert has been sent to all health facilities for heightened awareness, early case detection and improved case management.

2. Enhanced surveillance in all the schools and communities.

3. Public education is ongoing.

4. Contact tracing initiated and ongoing.

5. National Technical Coordinating Committee (NTCC), Regional and District Public Health Emergency Management Committees activated.

6. Vaccines and more antivirals for H1N1 arranged for.

7. Initiated process to enhance School Health

8. Designating a hospital to each second cycle institution.

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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Dr. Ibrahim M. Gunu, in a Citi News interview, bemoaned the recent health situation that has so far killed some students and hospitalized several others.

[contextly_sidebar id=”o5gfEAYhcZrSsE9lWIZMJ1R309AUhtqY”]He emphasized the need for government to tackle the outbreak as a national issue, saying, “the recent happenings in our schools have exposed the deficiencies regarding student health management services, so government should consider this suggestion seriously for the state schools to have resident nurses.”

“It should also be made as a requirement for private schools as part of the accreditation or approval processes.”

He also underscored the need to create what he described as the school nurse system as a means of recruiting some of the graduate unemployed nurses to serve in all public Senior High Schools.

“This system would require that a nurse is assigned to a number of schools in a specific location. The nurses using their clinical knowledge and judgment, should be able to provide healthcare to students and staff, perform health screenings and together with the school counselor provide counselling and education to staff and students.”

“These nurses should be made to provide daily reports to the specialist in the various district and regional hospitals for immediate action.  This kind of inter-agency collaboration would enable various governmental agencies to work together for the good of the students. Strengths of inter-agency working are that there is a wide range of skills, perspectives and knowledge to bring to bear on problems in our schools.”

Dr. Ibrahim M. Gunu further condemned all attempts to politicize the tragedy that had befallen the schools.

“It would also be important for me to appeal to politicians to stop politicizing this issue and attributing the menace to political figures in Ghana. We are a serious nation, so politicians must take the citizenry seriously,” he said.

Meningitis scare in SHSs

One student at Damongo Senior High School in the West Gonja District of the Northern Region was confirmed to have died from a case of Meningitis.

Meningitis was also found to be the cause of the death of a 19-year old student of Bawku Secondary Technical Institute in the Upper East Region, and a second-year science student at Koforidua Technical School.

In some of the schools, several other students have been hospitalized as a result of the conditions

This comes on the back of the deaths of four students of Kumasi Academy in the Ashanti Region.

The pandemic strain of influenza type A, H1N1 2009, also known as Swine Flu, was detected in some students of the school, and is believed to be related to the deaths.

Aside from the four deaths, other students have also been hospitalized.

However, health officials in both the Ashanti Region and the Eastern Regions, have insisted that they have contained the situation in the schools, and have assured the public of their commitment to ensuring the safety of students.

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By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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This was announced by the Ashanti Regional Directorate of the Ghana Education Service (GES) in a statement.

[contextly_sidebar id=”wotG9ygWhTxd9mnRYXRO2rJzi2k2G539″]In the statement copied to citifmonline.com, the GES advised day students in the various Senior High Schools not to report to school on Monday, December 4, and Friday December 8, 2017.

The final funeral rites of the late Asantehemaa, Nana Afia Serwaa Kobi Ampen II, who died in December 2016, is being held between December 1 and December 11, 2017 in the Ashanti Region.

“We wish to inform residents in Kumasi Metro, Asokore Mampong Municipal and the general public that activities being held for the final funeral rites of the late queen mother, Nana Afia Kobi Serwaa Ampem 11, demand that Basic schools within these areas be closed down on Monday 4th December 2017.”

“On Friday 8th December, 2017, schools will closed at 12 noon to enable students to reach home on time. Day students in the Senior High schools are also to stay home within these two days,” the statement said.

Background

The late Asantehemaa, who was the mother of the current Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, passed away in 2016 at age 109, and was succeeded by Nana Konadu Yiadom II, Asantehene’s elder sister.

Although her burial rites were performed in January 2017, her funeral rites are being held over a 2-week period in the Ashanti Region.

The Chairman of the funeral committee, Nsuase Opoku Agyeman, Otumfuo’s Akyeamhene in an earlier press briefing, advised residents and traders in the Central Business District of Kumasi to close their shops on Monday and Tuesday, explaining that “there will be firing of musketry in the streets, the executioners will also be around to display, so as Nananom parade from Adum to Manhyia, we will advice that all shops be closed, no trotros or taxis should be seen working.”

He further announced that, “no one should be seen in the evening on Saturday. It should be observed just like the Thursday during the burial rites, because that evening, Nananom will take the Abusuakuruwa to Breman.”

Funerals banned

Meanwhile, a ban has been placed on all funerals in the region from the Friday 1st December to Monday 11th December.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The Jamasi SDA primary, one of the worst affected in the community, had two (2) separate blocks of the school, which houses primaries 6 to 1, the store room and the headmaster’s office utterly destroyed.

The Headmaster of the Jamasi SDA Primary, Mr. Nti Berko narrating the incident, said “we thought that the school building was in good shape, hardly did we know that it wasn’t in a good shape as we estimated. So the rains as they came on Saturday evening ripped off the roofs of about six (6) classrooms, in addition to the six (6) classrooms, the head teacher’s office and the store room of the school, the roofs have all been scrapped off.”

He lamented that, “books and other items were soaked, we have only one computer, and it was also soaked in the rain, items have been destroyed.”

The teachers of the Jamasi SDA Primary School had no option than to put all pupils into the 3-classroom blocks that were not affected. However, teaching and learning had been halted.

A class 6 teacher who spoke with Citi News said no effective instruction can take place under the circumstance.

“We cannot do any effective teaching and learning, because we have to combine all the classes, from class 6 to class 3, and looking at the syllabus, there is nothing in common we can teach them, so everything has been brought to a standstill, and controlling the kids too, because of their numbers ir is going to be very difficult.”

Five other schools under the Jamasi circuit affected by the rainstorm include, Rashadiya RC Primary, Ansaria Primary, LA Experimental, Dawu RC Pimary and the Presby Primary.

At Rashadiya RC Primary, the new 6-unit classroom block, which is still under construction, had its roof also ripped off by the rains.

The Sekyere District Education Director, Mrs. Jocelyn Asante Boamah, who was visiting the affected schools, said “we are now accessing, we have to get a holistic view of what is happening, then we can take a solid decision.”

She added that, “if it becomes necessary to even go on break for a day or two, especially where there are younger children in kindergarten and lower primary, we will do that.”

The Presiding Member of the Assembly, Hon. Michael Opoku, said “there is going to be an emergency meeting today (Tuesday), myself as presiding member, the coordinating director and the education director, and we will invite the NADMO coordinator, because we have asked them to go round to access and bring their reports. Based on their report, we’ll get to know those immediate needs the assembly has to come in to deal with …we’ll look into  the assembly’s coffers and find out whether we can get some money and then get some relief items.”

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By: Lauretta Timah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post GES assesses damage to school blocks hit by rains at Jamasi appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah,during an interaction with the Muslim Community at Nsawam Zongo, as part of his campaign tour of the Eastern Region said “President Mahama has agreed that, from 2017, Senior High School students will study Arabic like they do in the English language.”

[contextly_sidebar id=”CT40XcumwiilzBGjDbMhnMyQegfvOCfj”]But speaking on Eyewitness News, Spokesperson for the Flagbearer of the NPP, Mustapha Hamid who lauded the initiative, however wondered how the NDC would implement this policy since it was not their original idea but that of the NPP’s.

“It is the usual panic reaction of copying everything the NPP says or puts in its manifesto and because it is not their original idea, they do not know the dynamics that are involved, they have not thought about it , they speak about it in ways that are unfathomable. We have it in our manifesto so it is very clear that it was after our manifesto came that they thought about it”

Mr. Hamid also raised doubts about the possibility of the programme fully taking force in 2017, saying “ from next year, they are going to begin the teaching of Arabic in JHS and SHS but I don’t know how they are going to do that next year because you need to do the training of teachers, you need to do the recruitment of teachers and since it is not their idea, I do not know how they are going to do that. “

Some stakeholders in the educational sector have since the announcement raised questions as to why government is taking such a move when there are other languages such as Chinese and French that they can make examinable in schools.

But Mr. Hamid defended the decision, saying “there are more speakers of Arabic in Ghana than there are speakers of French”

“If French is examinable I don’t see why Arabic should not be examinable. Arabic is also the language of Islam and because it is the language of Islam, thousands of Muslim children study Arabic willy nilly. It also a subject at the University of Ghana and those who study the language are required to study the subject so if it is an optional subject it helps .”

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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The post NDC copied our Arabic language idea – NPP appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

This was announced by the Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, when he interacted with the Muslim Community at Nsawam Zongo, as part of his campaign tour of the Eastern Region.

“President Mahama has agreed that, from 2017, Senior High School students will study Arabic like they do in the English language and we will introduce it at the basic level in 2018 and make it examinable.”

[contextly_sidebar id=”4e2VlyCilJ9iPL13je1d8Ihfp80Zcx3M”]Julius Debrah added that, the Wenchi Teacher Training College has started a programme to train some teachers in the country for that purpose.

“The good news is that, for the first time, we have a Teacher Training College at Wenchi that will train our Arabic teachers to be posted to other schools after completion.”

He also announced several policies to be introduced by President Mahama if given another term in office to enrich the lives of Ghanaians.

“This is not all, under the Islamic education unit, we will have Islamic Junior High Schools and Islamic Junior Technical institutions so that graduates from these schools can be employed in other Arabic countries with the certificates they would acquire. Who will you trust to deliver? Is it the one who is offering you fish, or the one showing you how to fish?”

The Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, also reiterated calls for the Muslim community in particular, to vote massively for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and its candidates.

Gov’t to strictly enforce teaching in local languages

The announcement comes on the back of moves by the Education Ministry to begin the strict enforcement of the use of local languages as the sole medium of instruction in basic schools in Ghana.

The Education Minister, Professor Naana Opoku Agyeman in June 2016 , indicated that, only pupils from kindergarten one to primary three, will be taught mainly with the local languages.

98% of class 2 pupils can’t read English

A research conducted in Ghana in 2014, revealed that 98 percent of primary two pupils in basic schools can neither read nor understand English or any Ghanaian language properly.

This was contained in the “Early Grade Reading Assessment” report commissioned by the Ghana Education Service (GES) for primary two pupils.

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

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The trio have already left Ghana for their new schools and will be seeking to further their education and career development, while also developing their athletic talents.

Martin Owusu-Antwi, who enjoyed a breakthrough season winning gold in the men’s 200m final and 4x100m final at the 8th Africa Universities Games in Johannesburg, South Africa, has joined Coppin State University in Baltimore, Maryland.

Owusu-Antwi will be hoping to improve on his personal best 20.73(PB), which he achieved in the men’s 200m final at the Soga-Nana Memorial meet on 8th July, 2016 at his new base.

Likewise, Agnes Abrokwah, after recording the fastest time by a Ghana-based athlete in the women’s 400m in 2016 when she stopped the clock at 53.06s, joins South Plains College, a public institution located in Levelland, Texas.

Abrokwah, one of the standout performers in the just ended season, made her international debut at the CAA Championships in Durban, South Africa in July.

She is joined at South Plains College by Safia Bright who has a personal best of 11.77s, and is a hot prospect for the future.

The three athletes are the latest to join the long list of athletes who are in the USA on similar student-athlete scholarships.

This is consistent with GAA’s philosophy of encouraging athletes to take advantage of their God-given athletic talent to improve themselves academically to secure their occupational or professional futures.

Their forebearers include Janet Amponsah, John Ampomah, Atsu Nyamadi, Emmanuel Dasor, Elizabeth Dadzie, Sampson Laari, Agnes Abu, Bless Dupeh, Lydia Mato, Felicia Frimpong, Solomon Afful, Daniel Gyasi, Mohammed Abubakar, Michael Bruce, George Effah, among others.
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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

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