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Nursing Students Punished Over Mahama
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- Category: Youth News
- Created on Tuesday, 06 May 2014 00:00
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Nursing Students Punished Over Mahama
SOME STUDENTS of the Mampong Midwifery and Health Assistants School were allegedly forced to kneel before Mohammed Kwadwo Aboasu, MCE of Asante Mampong, for drawing the attention of the President to their plight.
The MCE reportedly ordered the fear-stricken students to kneel before him as a form of punishment for what was described as offensive and unethical behaviour.
The students were said to have openly complained bitterly over their unpaid allowances to President John Mahama who had visited the area to inspect government projects on Saturday.
The nursing trainees also stood by the roadside displaying placards which had inscriptions that appealed to the President to come to their aid because they were suffering.
The peaceful protest embarked upon by the nursing trainees was said to have caught the eyes of the President and his entourage including the MCE whose convoy was passing by.
The MCE, who deemed the students’ action as insulting and offensive, therefore decided to show them where power lies, and therefore ordered them to go down on their knees after the President had left the area.
Commenting on the issue on Kessben FM, however, the MCE, Mohammed Kwadwo Aboasu, flatly denied ordering the students to kneel before him as a form of punishment over their protest to the President.
According to him, whilst the President’s convoy was passing by, he saw some students of the nursing school holding placards with inscriptions such as ‘We need our allowance.’
The Mampong MCE stated that the students’ action was unfortunate so he stormed the school after the President had left to admonish them not to repeat the act in future.
Mr Aboasu said he only told the students to report matters concerning their welfare to their school authorities in future, adding, “I did not let them kneel down as it is being bandied about.”
There were speculations with regard to the fate of the nursing trainees who were caught taking part in the demonstration.
Reports making the rounds indicated that the school authorities had suspended the affected students indefinitely.
Other reports said the school authorities had ordered the parents of the students that took part in the peaceful demonstration to appear before them.
Unconfirmed reports indicated further that the students would be ordered to sign a bond to be of good behaviour in future, else they would be sacked.
The NDC government owed them monthly arrears running into several months with plans to abolish the trainee allowance all together by next academic year.
Similar allowances for trainee teachers had been stopped for inexplicable reasons.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi
Source: Daily Guide/Ghana
No comments7,600 teaching posts vacant in Northern Region
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- Category: The ClassRoom
- Created on Wednesday, 23 April 2014 00:00
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7,600 teaching posts vacant in Northern Region
Hundreds of schools in the Northern Region, one of the most deprived areas in the country, are in dire need of more than 7,600 trained teachers.
The Northern Regional Director of Education, Paul Apanga, revealed at an educational forum in Tamale that about 404 schools in the region do not have a single trained teacher, leaving the running of the educational establishments in the care of volunteers and untrained teaching personnel.
He said the situation has accounted for the abysmal performance of schools, in the various examinations conducted by the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC), requiring thousands of teachers to be posted to the area.
“The region needs more than 7,652 teachers to occupy the various schools to help improve on the academic performance in the region,” he said.
The forum, put together by IBIS in collaboration with the School for Life, brought together local government officials, educationists, and traditional rulers in the region to deliberate on issues impeding education among the various communities.
The Northern Region, which is about 10 hours drive from the country's capital, Accra, contains 26 districts - none of which had a senior high school that made it into the top 130 schools in the latest WASSCE rankings released by the Statistics, Research, Information, Management and Public relations (SRIMPR) Division of the Ministry of Education.
Over the past five years, the region with a population of about 2.5 million inhabitants has scored below average results in their schools.
Meanwhile, the Tamale metropolis - the regional capital - boasts a surplus of trained teaching personnel, most of which are alleged to have refused postings to rural and deprived areas.
Mr. Apanga Said that the regional directorate have identified and earmarked about 2,000 teachers in the Tamale metropolis and the Sagnerigu District to be reposted to schools lacking trained teachers.
“The metropolis is overstaffing with teachers in the primary, which has accounted for the teacher absenteeism in schools. Therefore, there is a need to repost such teachers to the other communities whhich need their service,” he said.
Source: B&FT He urged the various district assemblies to initiate programmes lo fund and sponsor the education of trainee teachers to guarantee that such personnel will be posted to their area.
NLC summons finance, education ministers over teachers' unpaid book allowance
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- Created on Monday, 14 April 2014 00:00
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NLC summons finance, education ministers over teachers' unpaid book allowance
The National Labour Commission (NLC) has summoned both the Finance and Education ministers to appear before it to explain why book and research allowances to university teachers have not been paid.
Members of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) gave government an eight-day ultimatum, which ends Tuesday April 15, 2014, to pay their allowance or risk a nationwide boycott.
The two ministers Seth Terpker (Finance) and Professor Naana Opoku Agyeman (Education) - are therefore expected to appear before the NLC Tuesday with concrete steps taken to address the lecturers' concerns.
UTAG President Dr. Samuel Ofori Bekoe, told Joy News previous meeting which the lecturers have had with NLC and the two ministries -- in a bid to address sticking points in the payment of their book and research allowance -- have not yielded positive results.
{sidebar id=10 align=right}He indicated that the lack of progress at these meetings was because subordinates, instead of the ministers themselves, were sent to arbitration.
According to Mr Bekoe, although government had indicated it was replacing the book and research allowance with a national research fund to better the lot of lecturers, monies allocated for new fund was less than what it used to give to lecturers.
“If you used GHc10 million to pay book and research allowance and you say in this new situation you are establishing something that is better (national research fund), however what you are putting down is GHc3.5 million, how can be better?” He quizzed.
University lecturers had stated in communique that the government’s decision to scrap teachers’ book and research allowance, and replace it with a national research fund was unacceptable.
The lecturers said although they were not against the creation of the fund, such a facility should not replace their book and research allowance.
The communiqué further stated that the objectives for the introduction of the book and research allowance was more relevant currently, due to the large numbers of students admitted to the public universities, which had increased the research burden on the lecturers in terms of theses and project supervision.
“If the government goes ahead with the proposed abolition of the book and research allowance, it will have grave implications for the future of the public universities in Ghana,” the communique had said.
On February 2, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning announced the release of GH¢3.75 million for the establishment of a research and innovation facility.
Consequently, the ministry authorised the Controller and Accountant General to open an account for the facility and transfer the amount into it.
A statement issued by the public relations unit of the ministry said the amount represented 25 per cent of the GH¢15 million set aside in the 2014 Budget Statement and Economic Policy for the purpose.
It was announced in the 2014 Budget Statement that to encourage more research work in tertiary institutions and to realise its full benefits, the government had decided to review the existing system of payment of book and research allowances and replace it with a research facility.
Source: Myjoyonline.com
Sleepless, hopeless, voiceless; an 18-year old's goitre-like ordeal
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- Category: Youth News
- Created on Tuesday, 15 April 2014 00:00
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Sleepless, hopeless, voiceless; an 18-year old's goitre-like ordeal
Living a normal life is a reality Grace Panyin cannot really relate to.
She has been struggling since she turned five years old because of a strange goitre-like disease threatening to keep her life hopeless, her plight voiceless, and her nights sleepless.
Grace Panyin lives in Mumford in the Gomoa West district of the Central region. Assembly man for Penkye electoral area, Samuel Koomson visited Grace's family and describes her plight:
"Flesh began to grow along her gums inside her mouth, and has grown further down her throat, enlargening her throat and pushing its way through the sides of her neck."
Smelly blood often ooze out of the mouth as and when the area enlarges.
Her fishmonger mother and fisherman father have sent her to hospitals in the Central Region with doctors unable to help her. They have referred her to Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, a place where poverty prohibits them from going.
For the many times she has been to the hospital, Grace has fallen in love with the green and white uniforms of the nurses and aspires to be one too.
Easier said than done. But for Grace, it cannot be even easily said, let alone getting it done.
The painful growth, wrecking its havoc over a 13-year period, means the young girl has had to drop out of school since Class Five - saving herself from ridicule from her mates.
You cannot look at Grace without making a grimace.
She barely speaks, capable of whispers only her family and close relatives understand. She moves around the house doing normal chores in silence for greater parts of the day.
You wouldn't know if she is smiling or if she is happy - the strange disease is ensuring that the 18-year old girl can hardly communicate the state of her soul to anybody.
Except by looking into her eyes - and if you look long enough you could see the imprisoned anguish groaning for help.
Grace means unmerited favour; but surely this is one favour - help - Grace really merits after a 13-year suffering with no sign of ending.
Source: Myjoyonline.com|Edwin Appiah|This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
WASSCE: Mfantsipim, Achimota, PRESEC, Aburi Girls Schools OUT Of Top TEN (10)
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- Created on Wednesday, 26 March 2014 00:00
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WASSCE: Mfantsipim, Achimota, PRESEC, Aburi Girls Schools OUT Of Top TEN (10)
The Mount Carmel Girls’ Senior High School in the Brong Ahafo Region topped the 2013 West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) by scoring 100 per cent in the examination.
The school was followed by Wesley Girls’ Senior High in Cape Coast which had 99.60 per cent and the Tepa Senior High School, with 99.55 per cent placed third.
According to the rankings compiled by the Statistics, Research, Information, Management and Public Relations (SRIMPR) Division of the Ministry of Education, all the 56 candidates presented by the Mount Carmel SHS had between A1 and C6, giving the school a 100 per cent score.
However, in the case of the Wesley Girls’ SHS, 741 out of the 744 candidates it presented for the exam had between A1 and C6, thereby scoring 99.60 per cent.
The rankings of the performance of the schools also indicated that the Koforidua Senior High Technical School with 99.39 per cent took the fourth place. Kade Day Senior High Technical School scored 99.34 per cent in fifth place and the St. James Seminary had 99.29 per cent and placed sixth.
Adisadel College
The Adisadel College took the seventh place with 99.05 per cent. Maranatha Business SHS took the eighth place with 99.02 per cent while the St Francis Xavier Seminary took the ninth place with 98.99 per cent and the Ghana Lebanon Islamic SHS placed 10th with 98.73 per cent.
In 11th place was St. Augustine’s College (98.69 per cent); Abetifi Presby SHS (98.63 per cent), 12th; Archbishop Porter Girls’ SHS (98.54 per cent), 13th; St Roses SHS (98.48 per cent), 14th; Okomfo Anokye SHS (98.41 per cent), 15th; Islamic Girls’ SHS (98.32 per cent), 16th; Holy Child SHS (98,18 per cent) 17th; St. John’s SHS (97.94 per cent), 18th; Serwaa Kesse Girls’ SHS (97.77 per cent), 19th and Opoku Ware SHS (97.69 per cent), 20th.
Top schools including Mfantsipim School, Aburi Girls’ SHS, Presbyterian Boys’ SHS, Prempeh College, Accra Academy and Achimota School placed 39th 44th, 52nd, 54th, 59th and 78th respectively out of 716 schools.
Source: Daily Graphic