A retired educationist Mr. Robert Ajane has said, people of the north owe a lot to the catholic mission because, if not for the sake of the catholic mission people of the north wouldn’t have been educated to express themselves or even share their views on any national issues. “I don’t normally like to start blaming people, but I think it is the colonel government that created that problem. History tells us, that they came through the coast, settled in the south, set up schools and brought a lot of educational development in the south, and the northern territories were left untouched. After some time, the white man discovered that those they trained in the south some went abroad to obtain PhDs and came back and did not strictly obey the colonel masters. So, when they stepped up to the north, today I think it wasn’t a mistake they did that says, we have trained these people in the south and they are doing exactly what we are telling them. In any case, we have found cocoa, found gold and so for the north, we should have a different thing. Train them, they will provide the labour force for the south. Even then, they will not open schools all the north. The missionaries came and drove them away and I think the north owes a lot to the catholic mission, but for the catholic mission, I would have been so illiterate that I would not even be talking to you now. The catholic came forced, try to open the schools against the colonel government’s wish and succeeded in opening the schools. He narrated However, Mr. Ajane refuted the claim he benefited from Ghana’s free education in the past. According to the retired educationist who spoke to Apexnewsgh-tv during a One-on-One engagement at his residence, he said the free education he benefited from wasn’t a Ghana government money nor Gold coast government money because as of then, Ghana as a country wasn’t independent yet. However, he pointed that, it was his birthright to benefit from the 10 million pounds brought by the colonel government to accelerate development which will enable the north to bridge up the gap with the south in terms of development. “That free education was not Ghana government money or Gold coast government money yet, because we were not independent but, Colonel government money which was brought to accelerate development so that the north will bridge up”. He stressed “So, it was the birthright of any northerner including me. If you tell me Ajane, you enjoyed that free education, I would argue with you to the end, I would never agree with you, I would say that was my birthright. What the colonel government didn’t give me and gave to the south, that is what they gave to us. All we now want is, don’t let us quarrel over issues and somebody take a forensic audit to add to the supposed 10 million pounds that were left and see whether that money was exhausted and whether the money was used for which it was given”. “Fortunately, the government of Ghana sensitive and the welfare expert as they have been said, the budget is not finished. If this was the case, what can we do now? Even you insist it was free if is free for me, why don’t we legislate that all of us will have free? Fortunately, the government of the NPP came into power and brought about this free SHS. Some of us who were doubting Thomases said, it can’t happen and they looked at one area in which I don’t agree, that there is no infrastructure to take up more people who will be entering school. The English man said you can’t eat your cake and have it. Where in this country, and what was the period, that when they wanted to build a secondary, they finish building the secondary and opened it? Even our Universities, Legon started from Achimota college, if they wanted to have a university, he didn’t put up a university there. So, people saying Infrastructure I don’t agree with them. We have to start somewhere. As it is, haven’t we succeeded? Mr. Ajane asked Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
3unit classroom of Atampuurum B Primary School in Sumburungu uncompleted after 13 years
368 Pupils of Atampuurum B primary school in Sumbrungu of Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly of the Upper East Region risk their lives day by day learning in an environment that could be described as a death trap. According to the information gathered by Apexnewsgh.com, the school has been operating without doors, windows, and even with an open roof since after the roof was ripped off by rainstorm years ago. These are the conditions innocent pupils of Atampuurum B primary are faced for the past years and Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly has had different faces as MCEs without giving any attention to the school to date. I was told, whenever is threatening to rain, teachers will have no other option than to pupils ask the children to go back home, which means the children are learning under the outrageous squelching sun each day. Community members have been doing their little best assisting the abandoned school in one way or the other but unfortunately, the municipal assembly isn’t bothered about the school. The Sumburungu electoral Area Assemblymember Azure Samuel who expressed dissatisfaction with the school’s current condition said, he contested the Assemblymember position because of the neglected Atampuurum B primary school but unfortunately if he raised the issue during the assembly meeting the MCE will not give him any concrete response. “The MP Isaac Adongo is aware of the school, I have forwarded messages to him, he didn’t reply, he didn’t say anything about it”. He revealed “They started building the school since 2007 thereabout, but up to now, the school has not been completed. The windows are not there, the doors are not there, and even the roofing, the wind came and destroy everything and that was the time my brother Robert Awure was there as the assembly member somewhere 2014-2015 he went and informed the MCE and that time, I was a teacher at the school. So, 2016- 2017, we were not hearing anything concerned about that school. So, it was 2018 when some people came and took pictures of the place that they are going to help and we didn’t hear anything from them. Even up to now, that am speaking to you, the school is like that. There is no furniture, the windows are not there, the classrooms are still like that, even there is no office for the teachers. Even common table the teachers didn’t have. It was just recently the community mobilized some monies and buy some plastic chairs. In 2019, I was able to raise some 5 bags of cement and we were able to floor some of the classrooms from Primary 1 to Primary 3”. “When I went to the Assembly, I was talking about the school and they will not even mind me. They read the action plan, the school wasn’t mentioned and I asked the MCE but he wasn’t even giving any concrete reason for not putting the school there. So, I don’t know the problem of that school as am standing”. He told Apexnewsgh.com I was there when my brother the former Assemblyman Robert Awuure wrote to the Municipal Assembly and the MCE Amiyuure with the Director came to the school. It was because of that school I decided to contest as Assemblyman and I have regretted because, they sent me there to see what is there as their assembly member and now, I went to assembly and I can’t even speak. Mr. Akolgo Mathew the headteacher at Atampuurum B Primary school told Apexnewsgh.com that he came and met the school without a window, without doors, without furniture, and even without roofing. “The situation is becoming so bad because the environmental condition is deeply affecting teaching and learning” He is appealing to authorities, NGOs and well-meaning Citizens to come to their aid. Meanwhile, the Caretaker MCE for Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly Joseph Amiyuure, admitted not knowing the funding source responsible for Atampuurum B Primary school. “If it was on Common Fund or once it has been initiated from one of the funding sources and if is on Common Fund, it means is only Common Fund that can rescue that school and one thing about Common Fund is that, before our regime came into office and i became a Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) there are numerous of such projects that was scattered in the Municipality under Common Fund uncompleted. So, we need to know the funding source and if it’s not from Common Fund, we can find a way of working on it because, most of these development partners when they are giving their money, they will want you to use it for a project which will show is their project. They don’t want you to use their money to complete an uncompleted project of Common Fund. And if you look at the Common Fund since we came to office, the quantum of resource that will come is almost clean up. We have never gotten up to 300,000”. He told Apexnewsgh.com However, the former Assembly member for Sumburungu electoral area Robert Awuure when giving his account about the school said, “When I took over as assemblyman, I called the contractor and he said unless we came down to Accra and arrange with the GETFund people to give him his money, he cannot come down to continue with the project. And you can imagine that small building, they give it to somebody in Accra to come down to Bolga to build. So, that was the main problem. So, I brought it down to the assembly level to see whether they can fix it in their project, and actually, they agreed and put it in their project but, they were also looking for funding and they were rolling it over and over and over until I myself left the assembly. According to Mr. Awuure, the school was captured in the 2014 to 2019 budget. However, teachers and community members of Sumburungu are calling for those who matters to give urgent attention to the abandoned school. Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam
UER: School furniture in Talensi St. Thomas Aquinas pathetic, needs urgent attention
The furniture problem in most schools is becoming too problematic for most schools in the Upper East Region. A school is known as a place of teaching and learning. But one would ask, what are the role of our district assemblies when it comes to making furniture available to schools? In Talensi District of the Upper East Region, the story of St. Thomas Aquinas Primary School Gdeogo is becoming more popular than the normal Nigerian Mr. Ibu comedy’s we watch on television screen each day. It is becoming so common these days to see school buildings easily putting up by MMDCEs through their Internal Generated Fund/ Common Fund across the region without making provisions for furniture, to enhance a better learning conducive atmosphere for our innocent children. In Talensi District St. Thomas Aquinas Primary 1 classroom, the table above was capture and I have been wondering if the pupils found in this classroom will be able to described ‘Table’ accurately when given the opportunity because it is obvious this classroom table is very exceptional. Apexnewsgh.com, is however using its platform to appeal for the assistance of well-meaning personalities within and outside the region to come to their aid. However, the school is generally having a furniture problem. Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093.
Schools break for Easter holidays
Management of the Ghana Education Service (GES) has informed staff, parents, students and the general public that all schools will break for the Easter Holidays on Thursday 1st April 2021 and resume on Tuesday 6th April, 2021. A statement said on Wednesday March 31 said academic work will commence fully on Wednesday 7th April 2021. “The Easter Break is not compulsory for boarding students and so students who wish to stay on campus will be allowed to stay and fed. “Students who decided to stay on campus should adhere strictly to school rules and regulations,” it added. Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
Religious beliefs can’t be exhibited in schools – NAGRAT to Rastafarians, GES
The National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) has fiercely resisted a directive from the Ghana Education Service for management of Achimota School to admit two students with dreadlocks. GES Director-General Prof Kwasi Opoku Amankwa told the Daily Graphic last Saturday that the management cannot deny admission on the basis of the person’s religious beliefs. The intervention was hailed by many including parents of the affected students. But at a news conference today March 22, 2021 NAGRAT said the GES cannot be making exemptions to students in conforming to school rules. NAGRAT President Eric Angel Carbonu said the exemptions will lead to a chaotic school environment in the country and has asked the GES to redirect the management of Achimota School to ensure students abide by rules. He said “the population of students in Achimota Senior High School is about 4,000 students with about 130 teachers. To be able to manage 4,000 students coming from different homes with different upbringing, different training and different behaviour needs to have universal rules and regulation that ought to be followed by all students in the school, We cannot begin, this day, to start making exemptions for individual students based on their belief, based on their culture, based on their tradition, and based on many other issues”. “That will lead to a chaotic school environment. And a chaotic school environment becomes an indisciplined school environment that cannot produce the result that we expect. NAGRAT totally disagrees with the position of the management of the GES and we are calling on the GES to redirect the headmistress and the staff of the Achimota Senior High School to ensure that the rules and regulations of Achimota School and indeed any other senior high school is abided by every student.” Mr Carbonu added “one does not understand why people want to turn our schools into deregulated institutions where people’s whims and caprices hold way. The school is not a fashion environment, the school is not an environment to exhibit one’s religious beliefs. The school is an environment for training and conformity is part of training.” Starrfm Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
Achimota school rejects GES directive to admit Rastafarians
Achimota School has rejected a directive by the Ghana Education Service to admit two Rastafarian students. Headmistress of the school after a crunch meeting on Monday with the regional director of education and the GES stated that the school will not compromise on its school rules and will only admit the students if they take off their dreadlocks. The Ghana Education Service (GES) over the weekend directed the headmistress of Achimota School to admit the two teenage students whose admissions were withdrawn due to their dreadlocks. The directive followed an intense and sustained online protest against the decision of the Achimota school authorities. But EIB’s Fritz Ameghashie reports that after the meeting on Monday, the Headmistress of Achimota school stated that either the parents compromise on their religious beliefs and allow their children to take off the deadlocks or students will be refused admission to the school. The decision by the school comes after the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) on Monday fiercely resisted a directive from the Ghana Education Service for management of Achimota School to admit two students with dreadlocks. NAGRAT President Eric Angel Carbonu said the exemptions will lead to a chaotic school environment in the country and has asked the GES to redirect the management of Achimota School to ensure students abide by rules. He said “the population of students in Achimota Senior High School is about 4,000 students with about 130 teachers. To be able to manage 4,000 students coming from different homes with different upbringing, different training and different behaviour need to have universal rules and regulation that ought to be followed by all students in school, We cannot begin, this day, to start making exemptions for individual students based on their belief, based on their culture, based on their tradition, and based on many other issues”. “That will lead to a chaotic school environment. And a chaotic school environment becomes an indisciplined school environment that cannot produce the result that we expect. NAGRAT totally disagrees with the position of the management of the GES and we are calling on the GES to redirect the headmistress and the staff of the Achimota Senior High School to ensure that the rules and regulations of Achimota School and indeed any other senior high school is abided by every student.” Mr Carbonu added “one does not understand why people want to turn our schools into deregulated institutions where people’s whims and caprices hold way. The school is not a fashion environment, the school is not an environment to exhibit one’s religious beliefs. The school is an environment for training and conformity is part of the training.” Starrfm Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
GES directs Achimota School to admit Rastafarians
The Ghana Education Service (GES) has directed the headmistress of Achimota School to admit the two teenage students whose admissions were withdrawn due to their dreadlocks. This comes after an intense and sustained online protest against the decision of the Achimota school authorities. A former Member of Parliament for Kumbungu, Ras Mubarak who once had dreadlocks also waded into the conversation and slammed authorities for denying the two students admission into the prestigious school due to their dreadlocks. The former lawmaker who joined the protest online said the high-handed decision by the school authorities was a breach of the law and called for it to be reversed. “What the authorities in Achimota school have done constitutes a breach of articles 21(1)(c), 25(1), 26(1) 28(3) and 28(4) of our constitution. They have humiliated those kids on the basis of the kids’ Rasta culture. Not accepting them into the school because of their dreadlocks is degrading treatment which is frowned upon under article 28(3). “The school may have its rules, but those rules, and all other rules and laws are subservient to the constitution of Ghana. The supreme law of the land is the constitution. I hope the decision would be reversed, in the overall best interest of the school and the affected children,” the former MP who had dreadlock in the past said. Following the public uproar, the Director-General of the GES, Prof. Kwasi Opoku-Amankwah has taken remedial action directing the authorities to admit the two students. He told the Daily Graphic that the Head is not within the law to withdraw the admissions of the students on the basis that they are wearing dreadlocks. “So you cannot say that you will not admit someone on the basis of the person’s religious beliefs, and so, we have asked the Head to allow the children to be in the school,” Prof. Opoku-Amankwah said. Kasapafmonline.com Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
Achimota School is wrong to discriminate against students with dreadlocks – Education Watch
The Africa Education Watch has lashed out at the Achimota School for denying admission to two new students because they had dreadlocks. First-year students across the country resumed school Thursday, March 19, following a schedule by the government. The Father of one of the victims Raswad Nkrabea took to social media, following the incident, to express his displeasure over the matter and has indicated he would visit the GES to seek answers as to why his kids were denied admission. The Executive Director for the Africa Education Watch Kofi Asare stressed that no agency in this country has the right to deprive a child of their right to education. He indicated that “the act of Parliament says they are wrong to have refused them admission because they have discriminated against them.” Mr Asare contends that the right to education is a fundamental right. A similar incident occurred in 2016 where some mission schools including Mfatseman Girls disallowed students with dreadlocks admission. The Rastafari council subsequently threatened court action. In other parts of the continent like Malawi, a high court in 2020, ordered the government to allow Rastafarian students with dreadlocks to attend school. Efforts to secure a reaction from the school have been unsuccessful. Ghanaweb Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
Female Teacher Who Fed Her Pupils With Her Own Money ‘Cries Out’ As GES Punishment Offing
One female teacher who becomes the topic of every household has landed herself in trouble. Abena Serwaa Mankosa, the teacher who went viral for feeding her class pupils has been summoned by the Ghana Education Service. It appears all is not well after meeting with her superiors, per her latest post on social media. In a series of posts on her social media pages, the Primary 1 Teacher of the Aninkrom D/A School revealed that she’s been summoned by her employers, GES. She lamented on how her good gesture will land her in trouble. “I just don’t know any GES rules that is against taking pictures of children,so we can’t reach out to the less privileged in the society in peace Can the community turn against me that they don’t like how I treat my children under influence of any power Ghana is sweet Daddy said am stronger than this Final verdict at my district education office I love my country Have just lost appetite So will Ghana ever develop” Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093
GES Announces supplementary promotion exams for teachers Supplementary Promotion Examination
Ghana Education Service has issued a press release for a Supplementary Promotion Examinations. According to GES the supplementary exams they are organizing for teacher who went for the promotion exams will be written on 26th March, 2021. Below is the schedule: Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 0555568093









