Re BOOK ALERT: 
Welcome
....to JusticeGhana Group
JusticeGhana is a Non-Governmental [and-not-for- profit] Organization (NGO) with a strong belief in Justice, Security and Progress....” More Details
10 Prisoners Qualify For The University
- Details
- Category: The NoticeBoard
- Created on Saturday, 04 August 2012 00:00
- Hits: 4410
10 Prisoners Qualify For The University
Ten inmates of the Nsawam Maximum Security Prison and the Kumasi Central Prison are to commence their tertiary education after they wrote and passed the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in November/December 2011.
{sidebar id=11 align=right}Four of the inmates: two males and two females from the Kumasi Central Prison passed with distinction and qualified for admission to any university in Ghana, while six others have qualified for the polytechnics and the colleges of education.
However, because they cannot attend regular school due to their status as prisoners, the Prisons Service is collaborating with the Centre for National Distance Learning and Open Schooling (CNDLOS), the Commonwealth of Learning and some universities in Ghana to roll out a distance learning programme that will lead to the award of diplomas and degrees in some of the country’s prisons.
The Officer in charge of Inmates Education at the Prisons Headquarters in Accra, Superintendent Afari Mintah, throwing light on the achievements of the 10 inmates, said they had been beneficiaries of the President’s Special Initiative on Distance Learning (PSIDL) which was introduced in some prisons in 2008.
He said prior to 2008, education at the prisons had been informal, with special emphasis on religion as a ‘tool’ to reform them, but the PSIDL (now CNDLOS) afforded the prisons Service an opportunity to kick-start formal education.
“We started with skills acquisition such as catering, hairdressing, carpentry, block-laying and basketry before we introduced junior high school (JHS) education,” Supt Mintah said.
The JHS education, he said, began on a pilot basis with 60 inmates from the Nsawam Medium Security, the Kumasi Central prisons and the Ankaful Main Camp, before it was extended to the Tamale Central and the Wa Central prisons.
He added that the educational backgrounds of inmates were evaluated before they were put in the appropriate classrooms.
The inmates, he explained, were taught voluntarily by prison officers and other inmates who had the requisite knowledge in the various subjects.
“Some of the inmates have first degrees, while others have master’s degrees, so they help to teach the classes,” he said.
According to Supt Mintah, “in 2010, the Prisons Service registered 35 adult prisoners and 20 juveniles from the Senior Correctional Facility for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and they all passed with aggregates between 11 and 24; some of them even gained admission to conventional senior high schools,”.
Source: The Mirror
No commentsOfosu Ampofo honoured
- Details
- Category: The NoticeBoard
- Created on Saturday, 28 July 2012 00:00
- Hits: 4213
Ofosu Ampofo honoured
The Board of Governance and Headmaster of Begoro Presbyterian Senior High School in the Fanteakwa District of the Eastern Region, have honored the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, for his relentless effort towards the transformation of the school.
Making the announcement at the 40h Anniversary launch , the Headmaster of the school Mr. Ebenezer Oko Charway hinted that Mr. Samuel Ofosu Ampofo between the year 2009 and 2011, facilitated the construction of major infrastructure in the school that improved teaching and learning in the school.
{sidebar id=10 align=right}Among the facilities included a 20-Unit 2- storey boys’ dormitory block, a 22-unit 2 storey Girls’ dormitory block, a 6-unit classroom block with ancillary facilities and a science resource center which is under construction.
Inspite of all these, the headmaster recounted the rapid response the school got from the Minister when the girl’s dormitory was gutted with fire in 2009, as the former Eastern Regional Minster demonstrated his single support to replace the lost items of the students.
The school has therefore decided to honor Mr. Ofosu Ampofo by naming one of the school houses after him, as a sign of appreciation.
According to him, the six houses will be called Ofosu Ampofo House, a decision which he thinks will motive others to help the school in its developmental agenda.
Mr. E. O. Charway called on government to help the school to build an 18-unit classroom block to replace some of the weak pavilions built by the PTA.
He also requested for a 10-unit 2 bedroom flat to house teachers on campus and a 2,500 capacity dining hall for the school.
Mr. Charway recounted that the school which was established in 1972 with a student population of 70 currently has a student population of 2,360 made up of 1,145 boys and 1,215 girls.
He said by dint of discipline and hard work, the school currently is a center of excellence where parent send their wards, to acquire knowledge.
The headmaster called on all students and well wishers to join the school on October 27, 2012 for the grand durbar.
From: Maxwell Kudekor/Koforidua
Education Ministry, Book Publishers Trade Accusations
- Details
- Category: The NoticeBoard
- Created on Wednesday, 20 June 2012 00:00
- Hits: 4382
Education Ministry, Book Publishers Trade Accusations
The Ministry of Education and the Ghana Book Publishers’ Association (GBPA) are at each others’ throat, trading accusations and counter- accusations intended to question the Mills’ government commitment to printing basic school text books locally.
This development comes on the heels of the sudden backtracking of the Ministry of Education in giving local printing presses 40 percent of the total textbook contracts as earlier promised.
{sidebar id=11 align=right}Now, the Ministry has cut down the quantity to only 20 percent from 40 percent of the over 23 million text books required by the basic educational level.
The Minister of Education, Lee Ocran, told the press on tour of a couple of local press houses in Accra on Friday that the decision to cut down the quota of local printing from 40 percent to 20 percent was based on the concerns of the GPBA who met at the Ministry of Education on June 14, 2012.
{sidebar id=10 align=right}According to the sector minister, the publishers complained that printing such quantities locally would shoot prices of the contract up because local book printing cost higher.
“The complaints were coming from the publishers. Because they want more money, they are complaining,” said Mr. Ocran when he toured two out of three major printing presses in the country: Graphic Group, Buck Press and Sec-Print Printing Press.
However, when contacted by DAILY GUIDE, Fauna Ata-Frempong, President of GBPA, laid the blame squarely on the ministry, saying it was shirking its responsibilities.
According to him, the ministry decided to slash the initial quantity of textbooks meant for local printing because the ministry felt local printers were not competitive enough.
“On one breath, they say 40% in another, they say they cannot commit to uncompetitive printers,” Mr. Ata-Frempong told Daily Guide.
In his view, the ministry was only paying lip-service to ensuring the printing of local textbook even though it publicly indicated it would cede some of the printing jobs to local printers.
He noted that despite the planned printing policy, the Ministry of Education had failed to work out clear modalities for the effective implementation of the policy.
Local printing of text books in Ghana has become a major issue because most of the multi-million dollar contracts are shipped to Europe and Asia at the expense of local printers who are always up in arms against the Ministry of Education.
According to operators in the printing industry, they have more than enough capacity to print all the text books in the country.
Kofi Buckman, Managing Director of Buck Press, one of the biggest printing presses in Ghana, said his outfit could print up to 400,000 books within a day and make prompt deliveries of the finished product.
Ben Agyare-Kumi, Chief Operating Officer of Sec-Print, another top-tier press, said his facility could print up to 200,000 books in a day. According to him, local printers could deliver the kind of quality and reliability that government expects.
Ghana’s local printers are losing between US$100 million and US$ 250 million annually to cheap book imports from mainly Asia. This is because government has given publishers an attractive incentive to ship foreign printed books to Ghana. Duties on imported text books have been cut considerably from 35 percent to just about 5 percent, and this usually work in favour of foreign printers than local printers who still have to import paper at market rates.
The President of the GBPA said if government comes out clearly to define modalities that bind both local and foreign printers, its commitment to leveling the highly starved local printing presses would be welcomed.
“The rules should apply to both local and international printers,” he said.
By Raphael Adeniran
Source: Daily Guide/Ghana
Mawuli School scores 100% in exams
- Details
- Category: The ClassRoom
- Created on Friday, 22 June 2012 00:00
- Hits: 5122
Mawuli School scores 100% in exams
27 June 2012
{sidebar id=11 align=right}Mawuli School in Ho scored 100 per cent in last year's West African Senior School Certificate Exams (WASSCE) with 91 percent of the students gaining admission to tertiary institutions in the country.
This was announced by the Headmaster of the school, Mr J.M.K. Osei-Nyansah, when he presented his report, during the 62nd Honours Day celebrations of the school at Ho in the Volta Region.
It was held on the theme: “Ensuring Quality Education, All Hands on Deck”.
The best over-all student's prize was received by Master Emmanuel Naatei Nartey, the immediate past Chief Officer (Senior Prefect) of the school.
The occasion also witnessed the re inauguration of the school's army cadet corps and its regimental band.
{sidebar id=12 align=right}Mr Osei-Nyansah, commended the performance of the students and the tutors for instilling discipline in the students population.
The school has a student population of 2,120; made up of 777 girls and 1,343 boys. It also has some challenges, the biggest of which is their dining hall which is too small to accommodate the students, he added.
Another challenge, he said was the need for a stand-by high grade generator to counter the frequent power outages in the school.
He also mentioned their dilapidated masters’ bungalows and dormitory blocks as some of the other challenges.
Mr Osei-Nyansah was, however, grateful to the government for the number of infrastructure it had provided for the school.
These included the 300 bed capacity dormitory for the girls, the administrative block cum Library complex attached with two computer laboratories which have been completed, he said.
The others, which are still under construction, are the 2,500 capacity assembly hall and an l2-unit classroom block, he added.
The headmaster announced that the school will soon admit blind students if the resource centres for the blind, currently under construction were completed.
The Guest Speaker, Professor Emeritus R.D. Baeta of the University of Ghana, Legon, asked all stakeholders to pool their resources in reversing the declining educational standards in the country.
“We should not expect the government alone to achieve the quality education we are all talking about”, he said.
Professor Baeta, also an old student, asked the students to study hard since that was the essence of their being in the school.
“There is time for everything and this is the time to learn to ensure the bright future you are all thinking about”, he cautioned them.
Mr J.K. Bebaako-Mensah, Secretary to the President, also an old student in a message, urged the students to study hard since the school afforded them one of the best opportunities to develop their talents.
Source: Daily Graphic
Asantehene calls for more support for vocational and technical education
- Details
- Category: The WorkShop
- Created on Wednesday, 20 June 2012 00:00
- Hits: 3850
Asantehene calls for more support for vocational and technical education
27 June 2012
{sidebar id=11 align=right}The Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has appealed for more support for vocational and technical institutions.
He said everything should be done to equip and upgrade their facilities including laboratories and workshops to enable them deliver quality training to the youth in employable skills.
According to the Asantehene the situation where teachers are forced to rely on obsolete equipment together with the lack of teaching aids and limited industrial attachment opportunity for their students is not the best.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu II said it would not be out of place for corporate bodies to provide scholarships and other incentives to motivate both teachers and students in those institutions.
The Asantehene said these in a speech read for him at the 9th graduation ceremony of the Ramseyer Vocational and Technical Institute at Chirapatre in Kumasi.
The theme of the graduation was “Enhancing quality training in vocational technical education as an essential tool for accelerated development”.
A total of 86 students graduated after a three-year training in catering, fashion design, electrical installation, block-laying and concreting.
The Institute, established in 1976 by the Presbyterian Church has since trained about 8,000 people.
From: GNA