Engage Universities to assist teachers pursuing sandwich courses- Prof George K. T Oduro
A Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Cape Coast, Prof. George K.T. Oduro has called for the adjustment and realigning the calendar of the trimester system to address the challenge of teachers pursuing sandwich programmes at the Universities as against adopting a semester system at the basic school level to address the challenge. He noted that an engagement between the Ministry of Education, the Ghana Education Service, relevant teacher unions and the Universities could realign the calendar within the context of the existing trimester system. Prof Oduro made the comment at the back of the introduction of a semester-based academic calendar for public Kindergarten, Primary, and Junior High Schools announced by the GES last week. Among other things, GES said, the new system will ease pressure on teachers, decongest the various schools, and help align academic calendars. However, Prof Oduro called for planning and engaging describing the policy as rushed arguing that there is a lack of support system and will result in learning fatigue. He spoke to Correspondent Prosper Adankai in Bolgatanga, Upper East Regional Capital. A summary of the forthcoming Ghana educational reforms, as outlined by the Ministry of Education, the Ghana Education Service and the National Council for Curriculum Assessment, has revealed that the West African Senior School Certificate Exams (WASSCE), will be replaced with a university entrance exam – with SHS3 final-year students graduating with a diploma credential instead of WASSCE certificate. A sneak-peek at the reform document available to the B&FT showed it proposes that students in SHS 1 will continue to run a common core programme for one year without elective subjects, such as Science, Business, or any Arts programme, until they are in SHS 2. “Graduating to SHS 2 from SHS 1 will however be done through another Common Core Entrance Exam,” the document anticipated. At SHS2, students will have to select either a career-related programme that includes vocational and technical programmes, or high school diploma elective programmes such as science, business and the arts. The document equally said kindergarten, primary, Junior High School and Senior High Schools will all be described as basic schools, with JHS 1,2,3 and SHS1 being referred to as BS 7, 8, 9 and 10 respectively – meaning SHS1 will now be called BS10. Assessment-wise, the document is proposing that all students in JHS1-SHS1 should run a Common Core Programme called CCP which comprises nine subjects: namely Math, Languages, Science, RME, Physical and Health (not examinable) Career Technology, Social Studies, Computing and Creative Art/Design. A new examination called the National Standard Assessment Test (NSAT) will be conducted at Primary 2, 4, 6, and JHS 2, with the Basic Education Certificate Exams (BECE) being replaced by placement exams at JHS3 to enroll pupils into SHS1. Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Prosper Adankai/Contributor Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
President John Mahama has a much better record in public expenditure on education– Okudzeto Ablakwa
The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has said President Nana Akufo-Addo’s claim that his government’s commitment to education has been so great that public expenditure on education has almost doubled from GHS20.7 billion between 2013 and 2016 to GHS40.4 billion between 2017 and 2020 is “terribly wrong” and “pathetically misleading”. The North Tongu legislator posted his position on his Facebook wall on Thursday December 13, 2022. PRESIDENT JOHN MAHAMA HAS A MUCH BETTER RECORD IN PUBLIC EXPENDITURE ON EDUCATION On Tuesday, 4th January 2022, President Akufo-Addo delivered a speech at the 6th Quadrennial National Delegates Conference of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, in Kumasi. President Akufo-Addo claimed that his government’s commitment to education “has been so great that public expenditure on education has almost doubled from GH¢20.7 billion between 2013 and 2016 to GH¢40.4 billion between 2017 and 2020 .” The President added: this percentage, which represents a 95% increase, took place between the “Mahama era and the Akufo-Addo era.” I submit emphatically that President Akufo-Addo’s claims are terribly wrongly and pathetically misleading. As the unimpeachable data below confirms, the President’s numbers and percentages are gravely inaccurate. It is imperative to point out that my data sources are: Ghana’s Budget Statement and Economic Policy documents, Ministry of Finance Project-Based Budgeting publications and the World Bank. May I add that this analysis focuses on actual expenditure and not projected allocations. President Akufo-Addo must be informed that the globally accepted benchmark in evaluating the real commitment of any government with respect to public expenditure on education is to assess the share of GDP spent on education. UNESCO and “The Education 2030 Framework for Action” insist on the ‘crucial reference point’ of countries allocating at least 4% to 6% of GDP to education. It is deeply frightening to acknowledge that under the watch of President Akufo-Addo, Ghana has not only missed this global benchmark in four out of five years, we are also alarmingly witnessing a steady decline. When placed in the share of GDP context, the lowest levels of public spending on education over the last 20 years have been recorded during President Akufo-Addo’s tenure. As we say, figures don’t lie — President Mahama posted 4.6% in 2013, 4.7% in 2014, 4.6% in 2015 and 4.5% in 2016. Compare this to President Akufo-Addo’s 3.6% in 2017, 4.0% in 2018, 3.5% in 2019, 3.3% in 2020 and an abysmal 3.0% in 2021. Clearly, President Akufo-Addo’s best performance of 4.0% in 2018 is worse than President Mahama’s lowest performance of 4.5% in 2016. As the data reveals and as UNESCO records confirm, President Mahama has never fallen short of the global benchmark of a minimum of 4% share of total GDP throughout his tenure as President unlike President Akufo-Addo. Indeed, Ghana’s all-time best performance occurred in 2011 with an impressive 8.14% when the NDC’s President Mills and Vice President Mahama were at the helm of affairs. So, it is really a matter of: to whom much is given, much is required, and not throwing unreliable, meaningless numbers in the faces of people. Respectfully, President Akufo-Addo embarrasses our country within the comity of nations when he engages in such dishonest obfuscation, in the face of widely accepted global standards. Kindly refer to the tables and graph below for further illumination. Author: Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa [MP for North Tongu, Former Deputy Minister for Education] Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
Remain at post and do core mandate – Upper East Region TEWU Officer to Security personnel under GES
The Upper East Regional Industrial Relation Officer of the Teachers and Educational Workers Union, TEWU, Matthew Abeaba Aberiniya has revealed that the Regional branch of the union has asked its members who are security personnel working under the Ghana Education Service GES to remain at post despite the industrial action declared on Wednesday, January 5, 2022. According to Mr. Aberiniya, the decision was to protect public property against theft and burglary. He believes the absence of its members from post exposes such properties to loss or damages to which members are liable. Speaking on the midweek edition of the Sunrise Morning show on GBC URA Radio in Bolgatanga monitored by Apexnewsgh.com, the Upper East Regional capital, Mr. Abeaba Abereniya further revealed that the security personnel is to perform their core mandate. “If you are a security man and you know how to drive, perform your core mandate. If you are a security man and you know how to use a computer, perform your core mandate, don’t do secretarial duties,” he stressed. He assured parents and the general population of the commitment of its members to work but was quick to add that they cannot work on an empty stomach. Mr. Abeaba Abereniya indicated that TEWU will consider calling off the strike action, only when the government engages them to discuss modalities to defray the two years arrears of the Professional Development Allowance owe its members. The Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) announced its decision to embark on a strike from Wednesday, January 5, 2022, to demand arrears in their professional development allowances. At a news conference in Accra, the General Secretary of TEWU, Mark Denkyira Korankye, said “all our members, both in the schools, district, and regional offices are going to withdraw our services until an amicable settlement of this matter is reached”. He explained that it was resolved, among others that by the close of the year 2021, if the professional development allowances had not been paid to the non-teaching staff of the Ghana Education Service, then as schools reopen for the last phase of the second semester, their members would withdraw their services to push home our demand of the payment of this professional development allowances. TEWU members include bursars, cooks, cleaners, administrators, accountants, auditors, among others. Addressing the media, the General Secretary of the union, Mark Dankyira Korankye, said the strike will only be called off if their demands are met. The group’s last strike threat was in May 2021. That threat was in protest of poor conditions of service. The union’s last strike was on January 13, 2021, but the union’s national leadership called off the strike on January 18. At the time, TEWU said suspending the industrial action was going to allow for negotiations with the government to be conducted in good faith. However, TEWU has been in talks with the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission since June 2019 on the review of the conditions of service for unionized staff of public universities. Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Prosper Adankai Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
Over 40 Basic Schools in Bolgatanga Municipality without classroom and furniture–MCE
It has been revealed that over 40 Basic Schools in the Bolgatanga Municipality of the Upper East Region have no classrooms or furniture. This was revealed by the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) Mr. Rex Asanga during a press soiree organized by the Upper East Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) on December 15, 2021. Responding to a question asked about a neglected school in his community in Sumburungu known as Atampuurum B primary, Mr. Asanga acknowledged the school’s long-awaited predicament. According to him, there are over 40 neglected schools across the Municipality: “That’s true, me from that area i know the problem and is not just Atampuurum B primary. When I took up office, i asked the Municipal Director of Education to give me a list of all the schools that have no classrooms or furniture and she brought a list of over 40 schools. So we are looking to see how we can prioritize and begin systematically to see if we can solve some of these problems. So, is not just Atampuurum B primary only, there are so many schools that are having a problem with infrastructure and furniture” he confirmed Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
Confirmed: Teacher Kwadwo sacked by GES
According to a Facebook post by one of Ghana’s industrious teacher Michael Owusu Afriyie, popularly known as Teacher Kwadwo has his District Education (GES) Office through the Ghana Education Service says they have sacked him. However, he believes the reasons for the sack are “very funny” and has threatened to take the Ghana Education Service on as he touts this to be the first-ever “TEACHER vs GES fîght in the history of Ghana Education.” Read his post below; “Okay, so for some “PROFESSIONAL” reasons I can’t post the content of the letter here but all that is in the letter is that My District Education Office through the Ghana Education Service says that, they have sacked me. Their reasons are very funny. This is going to be the 1st ever TEACHER vs GES fîght in the history of Ghana Education. Y’all relax because it will be all over the news soon and y’all will know the head and tail of it. Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your adverts and credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
Dr.Mahamudu Bawumia launches Ghana TVET Service
Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia has launched the Ghana Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Service, as part of efforts to make Technical and Vocational Education a priority. So far, these brings together all the technical and vocational programmes run by 19 different Ministries under the ambit of the Ghana TVET Service, with the Director-General of the Service reporting to the Minister and Ministry of Education, like her counterpart, Director-General of the Ghana Education Service and other agencies under the Ministry. During the launch on Tuesday, 14th December 2021 at the Accra Technical Training Centre (ATTC), Vice-President Bawumia said before the administration of Akufo-Addo government, a lot of challenges including the poor perception of TVET, the multiplicity of standards, testing and certification systems, and an informal TVET system that had been neglected and detached from the formal sector affected the quality of TVET delivery in our institutions. He said, this made it difficult for the sector to become the key catalyst that could spur industrialization and decent job creation for the citizens of this country but the Government, he assured, is tackling many of these issues. “This Government from 2017, as part of the President’s plan to transform the Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the country, has been streamlining the TVET Sector to ensure that the sector becomes a central force of our national development agenda”. “One of many such initiatives to ensure this is the establishment of the Ghana TVET Service. “In 2017, Government formed a 15-Member Technical Committee with Membership from various Ministries and Agencies to establish the Ghana TVET Service”. “After extensive work and national stakeholder engagement, the Committee presented a Draft Bill to Cabinet for approval in 2019. The draft was later sent to Parliament and assented to by the President of the Republic, H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on 29 December 2020 as ‘Pre-Tertiary Act, 2020 (Act 1049)’”. “The essence of Act 1049, Dr Bawumia explained, is to ensure that all TVET Providing Institutions under the 19 Ministries are realigned to the Ghana TVET Service. Hitherto, these TVET Institutions were under the umbrella bodies such as Ghana Education Service’s Technical and Vocational Education Division (GES-TVED); National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI); Opportunities Industrialization Centre Ghana (OICG); Gender, Children and Social Protection; Ghana Regional Appropriate Technology Industrial Service (GRATIS); Community Development Vocational Institutes (CDVI); Youth Leadership and Skills Training Institutes (YLSTI), Social Welfare Training Institutes, Farm Institutes and Technology Solution Centres; and the Integrated Community Centres for Employable Skills (ICCES). While improving the capacity of the country’s educational sector to create a more robust TVET Service, it is equally important to focus attention on the professional and capacity building of the facilitators and teachers who will train the young people in the various Technical and Vocational Training Institutes, He pointed. “Thankfully, the Ministry of Education has made significant progress with teacher professionalism to conform to global education standards”. “I, therefore, urge parents of JHS graduates to counsel their wards to consider choosing TVET programmes since these programmes are designed to equip our SHS leavers with practical skills needed for the job market”. Responding to the issues of fears by parents and guardians who may have been worried about a possible truncation of the educational path of children who take the TVET path, Dr. Bawumia guaranteed: “There is the opportunity for those who complete their TVET programmes to continue from the National Proficiency levels through Certificate levels to HND, B.TECH, M.TECH to the Doctor of Technology level with the National TVET Qualifications Framework (NTVETQF), which the Commission is implementing for TVET.” However, Mrs Mawusi N. Awity first Director-General of the Ghana TVET Service, pledged her outfit’s commitment to meeting the needs of the youth, saying “We will ensure the acquisition of skills by the youth and the elderly to enable them to create jobs and help move our beloved Ghana forward.” Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your adverts and credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
If you already have laptop still take it and give it out to your family members—NAGRAT PRESIDENT to Teachers
It appears the agitation and cry by teachers across the country are not in any way felt by the Leadership of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT). The leadership of NAGRAT has cautioned its members across the country that they stand on a losing path if they reject the One Teacher-One Laptop programme brought to them by the NPP government. He said the laptops form part of the measures being rolled out by the Ministry of Education to motivate teachers to perform better. According to NAGRAT, teachers who refuse to take the laptops because of the issues surrounding their procurement will later suffer it. Mr. Angel Carbonu, insisted the laptops are to unearth the professionalism in teachers across the country. He further described it as a good deal from the government to all teachers. Mr. Carbonu said teachers stand to lose a great deal if they refuse to take the laptops because the government is bearing a major portion of the price. He said the laptops are a motivator rather than a burden on the teachers. “Teachers who feel they already have laptops should still take it and give it out to their family members because the product is one of the subsidized freebies from the government to teachers”, he said Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your adverts and credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
Education Ministry ‘blames’ Napo for sole-sourcing Ghc500m laptop ‘Create, Loot & Share’
The Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Adutwum, has denied claims of a “create, loot, and share” scheme in the contract to procure and supply laptop computers to some pre-tertiary school teachers across the country, pointing fingers, rather, at his predecessor Mathew Opoku Prempeh as the one under whose watch the deal happened. A statement from the Ministry in reaction to a MyNewsGh.com publication November 2021, said we “deliberately misrepresented” the facts regarding the procurement and supply of laptops for pre-tertiary teachers but rather in any case, it was procured on sole sourcing basis under Mathew Opoku Prempeh, the former Education Minister now at Energy. The Education Minister stating this in his response was an attempt to hoodwink unsuspecting members of the public that he is newbie at the MoE, when in actual fact, he was Mathew Opoku Prempeh’s Deputy for 4 years. The Ministry which has committed government to pay 70% of the cost of the laptop explained that it had little to do with the murky deal but that in September 2020, the leadership of the three teacher Unions with membership strength of 350,000 sought funding support from the government through the Ministry of Education (MoE) for the procurement and distribution of 350,000 laptop computers for its members. While there is no available record of the transaction with the PPA with information about the deal hidden like a National Security “top secret” following chop chop allegations, the MOE claims request for approval to use Single-Sourced procurement process to engage KA Technologies Ghana Limited for the supply of the laptop computers was made on the 17th of November 2020 by the then Minister for Education Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh” some three weeks to the 2020 election. No evidence of same is provided or even available at PPA so far. Under Mathew Opoku Prempeh, the cost of the laptops which has a mere Celeron 1.0 speed processor, a 4GiG Ram among others is believed to have been inflated by more than 300% according to two teacher unions who are in court, and who are also protesting the fact that the laptop cost will be deducted from the Professional Development allowance of Ghanaian teachers against their will. Indeed, the company K.A. Technologies, just like its counterpart which got a contract to supply 853,000 mathematical sets at Ghc75 each, got an easy contract to supply the 350,000 laptops at a cost of Ghc1,500 (later inflated to Ghc1,851), a charge the Ministry denied, distancing itself from the deal in which it is committing government to pay 70% of the cost. The Ministry said the company at the center is not a new company but is an old company with a new name. The Ministry of Education in its response however failed to address the fact that the Mandatory Eligibility Criteria set forth in Section III (C) of the procurement of the Information Technology Product document issued by the Public Procurement Authority was not met by K.A Technology Ltd. before grabbing the half a billion contract, even if it were an old company as claimed. The Ministry also failed to state whether it has investigated and is satisfied with K.A Technology which claims to be the actual manufacturer of the Teachers Mate 1 (TM1) laptop but failed to obtained clearance from the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) to certify the quality standard and durability of the laptop it is supplying and to confirm whether the laptops are being indeed produced in Ghana or being imported from China surreptitiously but branded “Made in Ghana” and at what cost. The GSA certification is more important especially when the Education Ministry bypassed brands like Dell, Samsung, Toshiba, Acer, HP, Lenovo and other established brands with reputation for producing quality laptops. As at today, 21st November, 2021 that has not been done. MyNewsGh.com is reliably informed the company is now trying to obtain a certification after a first batch has already been distributed. The same K.A Technology was revealed to have unlawfully obtained a tax clearance certificate to facilitate its legitimization of the dubious sole contract it was awarded, something the MoE refused or failed to address as further checks from SSNIT revealed the company only recently obtained a certificate from the state company- neither is the company itself addressing this. The Ministry runs away from the deal It is interesting for the Education Ministry to claim lack of ownership and push the deal to the teachers Unions of GNAT and NAGRAT, CCT given that government is paying 70% of the cost while these Unions’ members pay only 30%. Wouldn’t be in government interest to ensure value for money? ”An approval to use Single-Sourced procurement method to engage KA Technologies for the supply of the computers at a unit cost of GHS 1550 by Section 40(1) (d) of Act 663 as amended was communicated to the Ministry in a letter dated 20th November 2020″ the statement noted. It continued that, “Consequently an MOU was signed between the Ministry of Education, the Teacher Unions and KA Technologies Ghana Ltd towards the acquisition and supply of the laptop computers”. It said, “originally called NSV Ghana Limited, KA Technologies Ghana Limited is an indigenous private limited liability Company duly registered and incorporated in Ghana under the Companies Act 1963, Act 179 on the 19 days of October 2016. The company had a change of name by a Special Resolution and with the approval of the Registrar of Companies on the 13h day of May 2020”. “The company is primarily into the supply, maintenance, and repair of ICT devices as well as provision of technical training and development in the application of same” the statement added. —MyNewsGh Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
Breaking news: GES opens portal for only graduates from the colleges of Education
According to Ghana Education Service, applicants from qualified trained teachers who completed Colleges of Education in 2020 to be considered for recruitment. Below is the full statement: Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
Include us in the national standardized test–GNAPS President to Government
National President Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS) Dr. Damasus Tuurosong said, they are advocating to be included in the national standardized test which is to be conducted across the country’s public schools. He said Government has left Private schools behind. Speaking to the media Tuesday, November 23, 2021, during a regional congress organized by the Upper East branch of the Ghana National Association of Private Schools, Dr. Tuutosong revealed that there is a provision in the new curriculum for national standardized tests to be conducted across all basic schools in order to assess the student competency in literacy and numeracy. He added that is going to be across the country in order to measure the level of progress. “Now, because is a new curriculum, both private and public school are at lost, as to what standard is used to measure the schools. So we are advocating that, this been the first of its kind at least our Ghana Education Service, Ministry of Education should consider private schools been part of this. So that we can assess all schools across the country using the same criteria for assessment” He said Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093