Day: November 24, 2023

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

CAMFED Ghana has supported over 643,964 students to go to school.

The beneficiaries include 153,649 girls supported through secondary school under CAMFED scholarship.

Mr Samuel Asare Danquah, Head of Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning at CAMFED Ghana, mentioned that about 3,430 young women had also been supported through tertiary or higher education with CAMFED scholarship.

He said this during CAMFED Ghana National Annual General Meeting, held in Tamale on the theme: ‘CAMFED’s 2024-2029 Strategy: Your Role in Successful Implementation.’

The meeting was to provide a platform for CAMFED Ghana, its partners and champions to discuss critical issues around the chosen theme and to report on the major programme of activities that had been undertaken in the year.

It was also to receive input from champions that would inform strategies and approaches for the ensuing year.

Mr Danquah stated that CAMFED Ghana had trained 2,400 Teacher Mentors and Community Mentors to support girls in 1,189 CAMFED partn
er schools with 1,107 Leaner Guides trained to also support students in secondary and primary schools to improve girls’ performance in schools.

He said CAMFED Ghana had invested in training programmes for school administrations to strengthen school governance and accountability systems.

Madam Fairuza Safian, National Director of CAMFED Ghana, said over the next six years, CAMFED would implement comprehensive support system, targeted at the most marginalized girls to enable young women transition to secure livelihoods and join a peer network of leaders, to drive the adoption of best practices in national education systems.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Anglican Diocesan Development and Relief Organisation (ADDRO), has donated food items and other detergents to the Lumen Mundi School of Special Children in the Builsa North Municipality of the Upper East Region.

The items, including bags of rice, gallons of cooking oil, liquid soap, diapers, and toiletries, are to help facilitate the operations of the school and the development of the children with special needs.

The donation by the organisation was in recognition of this year`s World Children`s Day, which was held on the theme ‘For every child, every right,’ aimed at honouring children, protecting and ensuring their welfare, as well as giving them access to rightful education.

It also formed part of ADDRO’s Early Childhood Development Programme, dubbed ‘Moments That Matter (MTM)’, being implemented in six regions of the country, namely; Upper East, Upper West, Western North, Eastern, Northern, and Ashanti.

The programme, with funding support from Episcopal Relief and Development in the United States
of America (USA), aimed at contributing to a healthy mother, growth and survival of children from conception to three years.

Mr Prince Imoro Awimba, the Programmes Coordinator, ADDRO, noted that, as an organisation working in the area where the school was located and particularly focused on the development of children, it was important to complement the efforts of the Lumen Mundi Foundation, that established the school.

Lumen Mundi Foundation is a Latin term which means light of the world.

This, he indicated, would help in the realisation of the full potential of the children who were physically challenged, less privileged, and needed unusual care.

‘We were happy to know two years ago, through one of our stakeholder meetings of which the Executive Director of the school was part, that there was a centre here that takes care

of children that are physically challenged and less privileged and who, in some instances, are abandoned.

‘So, we were inspired by that, and as part of World Children’s Day this year
, we deemed it necessary to support the center so that the Foundation would continue to support and take care of the children’, he added.

Madam Margreet Carpay, Executive Director of the Lumen Mundi Foundation while expressing her gratitude to ADDRO for the donation, said she was moved by the kind gesture and was open to collaborating with them for the development of children with disabilities.

‘This donation of food and other items means so much to us because it can sustain us for months, which means that we do not have to spend that much money on food and the items donated, and we can now use the money for other things, towards the development of the children.

‘We are really grateful, and we thank ADDRO so much for this donation because these children are not as stupid as may be perceived, and together we can support them to grow and realise their potential’, she added.

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

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