Category: Education

The Champions of Free Education, Africa (COFEA), says it supports a review that will add to the fortunes of Government's Free Senior High School (Free SHS) programme and not one that will cancel or reduce its purpose. The Group said a review of the programme should be positive in outlook and add to the gains made in the programme in terms of enrollment and curriculum development. 'Any possible review from Government or any political party should be premised on improving the policy on its intended benefits and not one that will deprive others, especially the vulnerable,' Reverend Afreh Acheampong, Executive Secretary of the Group, said at a press briefing in Accra. Rev. Acheampong urged SHS heads to comply with the GES harmonised prospectus initiative for schools. He said the nationalised prospectus initiative, when fully adhered to, would bring relief to parents and students. 'If school heads adhere to the national prospectus without imposing any extra items apart from what has been officially prescrib ed, parents will no longer have to wait for schools to be out before shopping for their children,' he said. Rev. Acheampong commended GES for introducing the initiative, saying it would curb unapproved prospectus and enrich the Free SHS programme by ensuring that students did not drop out of school because they could not afford certain fees. Source: Ghana News Agency

The Union Groups of Companies, operators of the Sunyani-based Union FM, a local radio station, has presented 5,000 exercise books, to be distributed among deprived schools in the Bono Region. Mrs Ruth Taeko, the General Manager, said the presentation forms part of the Union's corporate social responsibility to improve education in the municipality. 'Dr Augustine Opoku Agyemang, our Chief Executive Officer is highly interested in human development, changing lives and transforming the world and he is determined to remove barriers that impede education growth', she stated. Mrs Taeko expressed the hope that the exercise books would benefit the poor and vulnerable children in the deprived communities so as to inspire them to learn. Receiving the books, Madam Justina Owusu-Banahene, the Bono Regional Minister expressed appreciation to the Union and promised to ensure that the education directorate sent and distributed the books accordingly. She said the government required support from the private sector in p roviding quality basic education and called on other companies, organisations and corporate bodies to also emulate, and support basic schools in the region with learning and teaching materials. Mad Owusu-Banahene praised Dr Agyemang for his exceptional contributions towards enhancing quality education in the region, and expressed the optimism he would do more and help tackle pertinent challenges confronting the growth and development of education in the region. Source: Ghana News Agency

Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, Minister of Education, says the country is set to have fully-fledged operationalised open university campuses in September next year. The Minister said prospective students could take up online courses from the comfort of their homes or visit the campuses for research. Dr Adutwum disclosed this at the closing of a weeklong 2023 National Education Week held in Accra. The weeklong event provided a platform for stakeholders in the education sector to meet and discuss the challenges and opportunities in the sector. Dr Adutwum noted that the initiative was part of reforms and innovations the government was undertaking to ensure that the education sector was modernised. He said with the open university the majority of the work would be done online. He said that a full online university would enure to the benefit of society and meet the needs of contemporary education. 'The Covid-19 pandemic that hit us provided us with great lessons on virtual learning. It shows that online learning was a fruitful model of education,' he added. The Minister said the Ministry was working with a UK University, which was providing technical support on the project. He said the Ministry was also putting up virtual high schools where students could enroll for virtual classes. 'There are several high schools around the world that are virtual, they are online. We are also building virtual high schools that will serve as an opportunity for people to advance themselves while they work,' he said. Source: Ghana News Agency

The Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) of the Konchuri Basic School in the Jirapa Municipality has appealed to benevolent individuals and organisations to consider building a befitting classroom block for the Junior High Students. The appeal was necessitated by the lack of befitting classrooms for Junior High School (JHS) one to three students compelling them to sit in dilapidated structures for teaching and learning. The PTA led the community to build two mud structures to temporarily host the children while they waited for government intervention. Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in the community, Mr Charles Anatakang, the PTA Chairman, described the structures accommodating the JHS children as 'death traps' since they could collapse at any time. 'We do not have any option if not the children are not supposed to be sitting in these structures, they are not safe inside here. Anytime it threatens to rain the children run into other classrooms because they fear it will collapse on them,' he explained. He said the government constructed the kindergarten (KG) block for the community while a philanthropist built six classrooms for primary one to six. The PTA Chairperson observed that the timely intervention by providing the JHS block for the community would save the children from imminent disaster as the current structure they sat in risk of collapsing. Mr Anatakang also mentioned that the school lacked teacher's accommodation, which discouraged many teachers from staying in the community to teach. He added that the lack of a source of potable water for the school children at the school was also affecting effective teaching and learning. 'Because there is no borehole in the school, some children will pretend that they are going to the house to drink water but will never return. If the boreholes were to be here the child would go there, drink the water, and return to the classroom', he explained. Meanwhile, Mr Huudu Kunaateh, the Jirapa District Director of Education, said the direc torate was aware of the challenge at the school and had informed the Municipal Assembly to provide a befitting classroom block for the children. He, however, joined the PTA in making a passionate appeal to the benevolent society to intervene as the District Assembly was not swift in responding to their plea of providing a classroom block. Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr. Joe Anokye, Director General of the National Communications Authority (NCA) has said that plans are far underway for Ghana to hook on to the 5G wireless data communication for mobile carriers. 'We have made sure that the spectrum required for five 5G is available, there are few policies that must be made as to exactly how spectrum will be made available. It is very complicated, because of the way the market is, we don't want to proceed and only one entity will have the capability of acquiring the 5G', he told participants at the 12th R.P Baffour memorial lectures organized by the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi. His topic was 'KNUST, a history of remarkable growth in science and technology education, resilience and adaptability in the digital space' Mr Anokye in an answer to a question as to when Ghana would be connected to the 5G services however, stated that, it was important for the NCA to beef up local internet services for majority of the people to access the 5G services. 'We have to make sure Wi-Fi services at various places where people meet are provided, there is a fibre optic connection to central point to make your 5G come', he stated. He currently said all internet traffic in Ghana pass through the submarine cable landing, with 5.9 terabytes in total, but were very complicated. 'Every now and then a submarine cable will go down and when it does, it takes time. You have to send a ship in. So, one of the things NCA is doing is to license additional submarine providers to help address these anomalies,' he said. Touching on the KNUST technology infrastructure and communication evolution as well as the University in the liberalization era, he commended the institution for its resolve in advancing and catching up in technology advancement. He pointed out that back in the early 1990's before the era of liberalization, the KNUST faced numerous challenges in communication, and academically, struggle with outdated teaching materials, among others. 'The journey of KNUST over the past seven decades stands a testament to what vision, dedication, resilience, and corroborative spirit can achieve. From its foundational years to alumni and success stories, the University had remained a beacon of knowledge in Ghana's educational landscape,' he stated. Mr Anokye said the age dominated by disruptive technologies, the role of educational institutions, particularly those with the legacy was increasingly critical. According to him, Technology was reshaping the way people thought, worked, and created, adding that, while these changes had brought opportunities, they also presented formidable challenges. Source: Ghana News Agency