Breaking News: Chiana SHS students in viral video insulting President Akufo-Addo finally dismissed
Apexnewsgh.com can confidently report that the students captured in a viral video insulting President Akufo-Addo identified as Form 2 students of Chiana Senior High School ( SHS) in the Kassena Nankana West District of the Upper East Region have been dismissed from the school with immediate effect. This is according to a letter dated November 29, 2022, signed by the Director General of Ghana Education Service Dr. Eric Nkansah. Meanwhile, immediately after the unfortunate act by the students, the Headmistress of Chiana SHS initiated disciplinary action against the students even as investigations into the matter continue. The widely circulated video attracted a lot of condemnation from the public. Even though, others also blamed the policies of the Government FSHS, which was introduced by President Akufo-Addo, which they claimed have limited the authority of teachers with regards to ensuring discipline such as using corporal punishment. Even before the investigation continued, Ghana Education Service (GES) apologized to President Akufo-Addo and the public on behalf of the students and the school. Read the full letter signed by Director General: Management of the Ghana Education Service (GES) has given approval for the dismissal of Miss. HamiduHuzaimah Daabu with immediate effect to serve as a deterrence to other students. This is in view of her involvement in misconducting herself by making derogatory comments in a video that went viral, a conduct considered very undesirable and contrary to the acceptable standards of conduct generally required of any student in our Educational system in Ghana. Your ward is therefore requested to properly hand over any school property in her possession to the headmistress of the school before leaving. It is expected that your word will use this as a major turning point in her life to bring the desired change in her behavior and attitude towards life.We wish her all the best in her future endeavor.Thank YouDr. Eric NkansahAG. Director General Source: Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana For publication please kindly contact us on 0256336062 or Email apexnewsgh@gmail.com
Some changes by GES ahead of school reopening
There has been some little change ahead of the school reopening for the Basic and Senior High Schools for January 2023. The changes was done by the Ghana Education Service (GES) Following the release of the academic calendar, the management of the Ghana Education Service (GES) has announced a new re-opening date for basic and senior high schools for the 2022/2023 academic year, which is as follows. Second Cycle SchoolsSHS 3: Tuesday, 10th January, 2023 SHS 2: Tuesday, 10th January, 2023 SHS 1: Till further Notice Basic Schools Tuesday, 10th January, 2023 The only changes in the reopening dates is that of the Senior High Schools. They were first to report on 9th January, 2023. However, 9th January happens to be a public holiday. For this reason, the reopening date has been shifted to the next day for both day students and borders. The full calendar for the 2023 Academic year for pre-tertiary public schools will be made available at the various media platforms, MoE/GES websites, and other social media handles. For publication please kindly contact us on 0256336062 or Email apexnewsgh@gmail.com
Dr.Eric Nkansah is finally confirmed as GES Director
Dr. Eric Nkansah, who had been serving as the Ghana Education Service’s (GES) acting Director General, has been appointed to the position officially. All official communications and memoranda are to be addressed as such, according to a letter sent to all GES regional directors on January 4 and signed by the GES’s director of human resources, Angela Frimpomaa Nkansah. “Congratulations to Dr. Nkansah, Director-General, Ghana Education Service” the letter noted. He was the Technical Advisor/Director in charge of Tertiary Education at the Ministry of Education before his appointment.His appointment became effective on October 19, 2022, after the President terminated Prof. Kwasi Opoku-secondment Amankwa’s agreement and requested that he return to his prior position at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). Many teacher unions objected to Dr. Eric Nkansah’s appointment on the grounds that he is not a teacher and urged the government to revoke it.At one point, the unions threatened to go on strike if the government didn’t revoke Dr. Nkansah’s appointment. Over the past 13 years, Dr. Eric Nkansah has devotedly worked as a banker, professor, researcher, and financial consultant. He was a Senior Lecturer at the Kumasi Technical University’s Department of Banking Technology and Finance. He joined the university in 2012 and has since made a substantial contribution to its growth (in the areas of teaching, research, program creation, etc.). He worked as the Sales Manager at the Krofrom Branch of Barclays Bank of Ghana (now Absa) for more than five years before attending the university.
2022 Teacher Licensure Examinations: 44,000 Teachers Fail
Dr Christian Addai-Poku, Registrar, National Teaching Council, says 44,000 out of the 120, 000 teachers wrote the 2022 Ghana Teacher Licensure Examinations, have failed. He said the results of the examinations were worrying, considering the poor performance of the teachers who were supposed to be imparting knowledge to children. Dr Addai-Poku made these remarks at the 2022/23 Cohort – Leading Girls’ Learning Programme town hall meeting organised by the Institute of Teacher Education and Development (INTED). The Leading Girls’ Learning Programme enrolled by INTED with support from USAID, seeks to address attitudes and barriers against girls in second cycle school to improve their learning environment. The programme also builds the competences and skills of teachers in second cycle to improve the teaching and learning outcomes in schools. Dr Addai-Poku said the knowledge and capacities of teachers needed to be continually developed to enable them excel in their profession. He stressed that the continuous professional development of teachers enable them to sharpen their skills and upgrade their teaching profession. Dr Addai-Poku said there was the need for female teachers to be encouraged to climb up the teaching ladder into second-cycle institutions, saying, their numbers at that level was not encouraging. He indicated that out of the total population of teachers at the second cycle level, only 26 per cent were female. “Having more female teachers at the second cycle level would enable the girls in the schools to have role models they can look up to in these female teachers,” he added. Mr Divine Ayidzoe, Chief Director, Ministry of Education, said very soon an entrance examination for persons who wanted to enrol in the various Colleges of Education would be instituted. He said with this intervention, Colleges of Education would have bright students to enrol in them to enhance the teaching profession in the country. Mr Kwabena Amporful, Executive Director, INTED, said INTED over the past decade had worked with development partners to improve the quality of teaching and leadership practices in Senior High Schools. He added that they had provided professional development programmes to over 3,500 teachers in over 70 schools in the country. —GNA—
WASSCE results could’ve been better but for FSHS implementation challenges – Apaak
The deputy ranking member for Parliament Select Committee on Education, Dr. Clement Apaak says the implementation of the Free Senior High Schools (FSHS) has challenges that need to be addressed. The lawmaker’s call comes on the back of President Akufo-Addo’s recent commendation of the policy vis a vis the results in West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) so far. Delivering an address at the 70th Anniversary Celebration of Opoku Ware Senior High School, President Akufo-Addo noted that the 2022 WASSCE results of the third batch of the graduates shows 60.39% of students recording A1-C6 in English, as opposed to 51.6% in 2016.” In Integrated Science, he noted that 62.45% recorded A1-C6 in Integrated Science in 2022, as opposed to 48.35% in 2016, with the 2022 result being a slight regression from the 2021 pass rate of 65.70%. President Akufo-Addo added that 61.39% of students recorded A1-C6 in Mathematics, as compared to 33.12% in 2016; and 71.51% recorded A1-C6 in Social Studies, as compared to 54.55% in 2016. But the deputy ranking member indicated a national discussion on the policy will make it better. “No one is against the policy, the call is for a comprehensive plan to address the implementation challenges, aimed at making FSHS work even better. “The results could have been better but for the challenges. A national conversation or review is long overdue,” Mr. Apaak stated in a tweet on Sunday December 4 2022. However, according to President Akufo-Addo, “six (6) years on following the implementation of the Free Senior High School policy, which has guaranteed a minimum of Senior High School education for 1.7 million Ghanaian children, the highest such enrolment in our history, I can state, without equivocation, that I am very proud of the policy and of its results thus far.” “Lest we forget, the 2021 batch of students, who also obtained very commendable results, were the pioneers of the double track system, which elicited a lot of vilification and unfounded criticism on its introduction,” he said. The President continued, “The 2022 results are the best of the last eight (8) years. Surely, there can no longer be any controversy about the validity of the Free SHS policy and its consequential measures. It is working, and working well. —Starrfm— For publication please kindly contact us on 0256336062 or Email apexnewsgh@gmail.com
Important information for Directors and staff of GES
Management has extended the issuance of Assurance letters to Friday 11th November 2022. This is to give room for prospective staff who could not meet the initial deadline to go through the process smoothly. Read below: Source: Apexnewsgh.com/ Ghana For publication please kindly contact us on 0256336062 or Email apexnewsgh@gmail.com
UER-: See a 32-year-old public kindergarten school block, now a death trap in Isaac Adongo’s community
A kindergarten school constructed in 1990 known as 31st December KG located at Tindonsbiligo in Bolgatanga Central a community where Isaac Adongo, the Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central came from, has become a death trap for both pupils and teachers using the facility. Apexnewsgh.com report The information gathered by Apexnewsgh.com from the School Headmistress says, the Assemblyman of the Tindonsobligo electoral area and the people of Tindonsobligo especially parents are aware of the predicaments. During the heat of the rainy season, our investigation reveals that all the school roofs were licking from the top to the classrooms and the office of the Headmistress received the highest share of the regrettable disaster because most of the official materials and some documents were destroyed by the rains. However, it is no more news that as soon as it starts raining, both school pupils and their teachers have nowhere to hide. Meanwhile, when Apexnewsgh.com contacted the Assemblyman in charge of the electoral area Thomas Apaala, he acknowledge knowing about the school’s predicaments.He said, at the initial stage he was thinking of changing the zinc but when the Assembly engineer came he said the school needs to be renovated, and there is nothing they could do again. “I will get a carpenter to see if we can take those bad ones away if the cost will be beyond my control”. The Assemblyman promised“Since the inception of the school, there has not been any renovation”. Narrating his encounter with Mr. Isaac Adongo the Bolga Central MP, the Assemblyman said “I met the MP to see what we can do. So, we went to the Assembly and brought one engineer to do an estimate and it was even then I got to know that the issue wasn’t necessarily about changing zinc, but the engineer said the school needs total renovation. So, when we send the estimate and sent to the Assembly, the MP was to use part of his common Fund to do the renovation but I think the Common Fund these days is not coming as expected and on the Assembly budget of the year, it was loaded, and they could not capture it as part of the project”. Meanwhile, our several calls and messages to Mr. Isaac Adongo as a way of following up on the issue, have not been answered or responded to. The Headmistress and teachers at the school say they fear for their lives. They are appealing to Mr. Adongo and other well meaning Ghanaians to come to their aid before things get out of hand. Source: Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana For Publication, please kindly contact us on 0256336062 or Email: Apexnewsgh@gmail.com
Dr. Eric Nkansah, participated in the 29th Conference of Directors of Education (CoDE) annual conference
The AG. Director-General of Ghana Education Service, Dr. Eric Nkansah, participated in the 29th Conference of Directors of Education (CoDE) annual conference held in Accra. This year’s conference was held under the theme, “Sustainability of Free Pre-Tertiary Education in Ghana: the Surest Step to Human Resource Development.” In his address, Dr. Nkansah commended all Directors of Education for their commitment to duty and assured the MMDDEs of his continuous support to the pursuit of their mandates as implementors of educational policies at the pre-tertiary level in their various Metro/Municipal and Districts. The Director-General assured them of his commitment to working with all stakeholders to create an enabling environment needed to improve learning outcomes at the Pre-Tertiary level. Present at the conference were the Hon Minister for Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, GES Council Chairman, Mr. Micheal.Nsowah, Dep DG Dr Kwabena Bempah Tandoh and others. Source: Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana For publication please kindly contact us on 0256336062 or Email: apexnewsgh@gmail.com
MTN takes cybersecurity education to schools
Telecommunication giant, MTN Ghana has partnered the Cyber Security Authority (CSA) to create awareness on cyber security and its related issues among the youth in the country.The awareness creation, which began at the Labone Senior High School, was to mark National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) to help reduce cybercrimes. As part of the month-long awareness programme, CSA is to collaborate with other relevant stakeholders to undertake a nationwide tour to sensitise people to cyber security-related matters, including regulations, through workshops and seminars. The authority will also engage and partner stakeholders to implement key cyber security regulations and also build the capacity of industry players. The initiative forms part of a five-year National Cyber Security Awareness Programme of the government dubbed: “A safer digital Ghana”. Social responsibility Addressing participants at the forum in Accra on Monday, October 10, the Senior Manager of Enterprise Information Security and Governance at MTN Ghana, Jacqueline Hanson-Kotei, said the decision to partner the authority was part of MTN’s social responsibility to ensure that cyber security issues were brought to the barest minimum in the country. “It is also part of MTN’s commitment to support the CSA to reduce cybercrime. We are in a digital age now and most of our lives are spent on the internet, so I think it is important to raise awareness on cybersecurity issues to make sure that those living their lives online are safe,” she said. Foresight An Assistant Manager at the CSA, Abigail Kakai, commended the management of MTN Ghana for the foresight to help promote the NCSAM. She said there was the need for students to reach out and report all cybercrime cases to the authorities. “The NCSAM is an annual event by authority to intensify capacity building and awareness creation efforts on cybercrime,” he said. Appreciation The Assistant Head Teacher of the Labone Senior High School, Adelaide Boye, expressed appreciation to MTN and the authority for the engagement. Source: Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana For publication please kindly contact us on 0256336062 or Email: apexnewsgh@gmail.com
100 students benefit from MTN Bright Scholarship Reloaded
MTN Ghana Foundation has presented the first batch of scholarships to 100 students under its Bright Scholarship Reloaded scheme. The first 100 tertiary students received their awards to fund their education at the public universities in the country. MTN Bright Scholarship Reloaded is an enhancement of the MTN Bright Scholarship which was launched in 2018. The scheme aims to assist 300 students with their financial commitments. The awardees are from the University of Ghana, Cape Coast University, University of Health and Allied Science (UHAS), University of Development Studies (UDS), University of Education, Winneba, as well as the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. A board member of the MTN Ghana Foundation, Dr Gloria Asare, said the scholarship package, would cover tuition, accommodation, a stipend of GHS 1,150 per semester and a laptop computer to facilitate learning. While the reloaded scheme is open to all, she indicated that, special attention is being given to students pursuing STEM courses, data analytics, robotics, and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). Dr Asare also added that, the scholarship reloaded scheme would also cater for physically challenged persons interested in pursuing ICT and Computer Science courses. Additionally, she said students who have schooled and lived in the newly created regions such as Bono East, Ahafo, Savannah, Northeast, Western North, and Oti regions would benefit from a special package. “We hope this scholarship reloaded will help ease the financial burden faced by these students and their parents so they may have the peace of mind to complete their education without any major difficulties,” Dr Asare stressed. Dr Asare reminded the beneficiaries that the support they have received from MTN is a vote of confidence in their capabilities, in spite of the peculiar challenges they face in their lives, adding that it therefore behooves them to take full advantage of it and justify why they got the scholarships in the first place. For his part, Education Portfolio Advisor for MTN Ghana Foundation, George Kyei Frimpong, said the beneficiaries have been selected from all public tertiary institutions representing all 16 regions of Ghana. According to him, they have qualified for this award through their impressive academic track record and have shown eagerness to pursue higher levels education. 100 students benefit from MTN Bright Scholarship Reloaded“In keeping with our mission to improve the quality of lives in the communities in which we operate, the MTN Ghana Foundation since its inception has committed itself to providing sustainable projects in health, education, and economic empowerment to improve livelihoods” Mr Frimpong stated. Beneficiaries of the scholarship reloaded programme thanked MTN Ghana for investing in their future and promised to make them proud. Source: Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana