The Executive Director of the National Service Secretariat (NSS), Mr. Osei Assibey Antwi, has engaged NSS personnel at an orientation programme held at the Burma Camp.
Mr.Osei Assibey Antwi (2nd from left) with some officials at Burma Camp
He shared with them valuable insights and motivation for a successful service year. He also answered insightful questions and had meaningful discussions with them.
A section of the participants at the orientation Programme
In an interview after the orientation programme, the former Mayor of Kumasi said he was highly touched by the level of commitment and enthusiasm exhibited by the personnel.
He mentioned that NSS, under his watch, is also determined to ensure that personnel are well empowered to offer the expected contribution for nation-building.
The foregoing, according to him, is mirrored by the rolling out of a comprehensive training in the various aspects of agriculture across 46 training centres nationwide, covering everything from land preparation to sustainable and data-driven farming techniques.
“Our aim is to bridge the gap between theory and practice, offering practical experiences and fostering entrepreneurship among our youth,” he said.
According to the NSS Boss, the above aim would help build a sustainable future for Source:By Enock Akonnor
The Ghana Education Service (GES),has released school placement for graduates of the 2023 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BEC
E) into Senior High Schools and Technical, Vocational, Education and Training (TVET) schools across the country.
The released dated Tuesday,28th November,2023, said out of total number of 598,839 results received from WAEC,585,797 candidates qualified to be placed.
That,a total of 477,772(81.56%) have automatically been placed in one of their choices.
This according to GES,is a significant improvement compared to last year’s,with over 100,000 more students placed.
108,025(18.44%) qualified candidates could not be matched with any of their choices.
All such students bare, therefore,to do Self-Placement to select from available schools.To access the placement platform, candidates are to follow the steps below…
The Harmonization of African Higher Education Quality Assurance and Accreditation (HAQAA) Initiative Project officer at the Association of African Universities (AAU), Dr Violet Makuku, has announced that Ghana stands tall when it comes to education development in Africa.
Dr Violet Makuku
This, she attributed to the giant strides the nation keeps making in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) as well as Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) education and other prudent policies which are fast-tracking the nation’s transformation to the next level.
Dr Violet Makuku, announced this when she gave a brief closing remarks at the closing ceremony of this year’s National Education Week (NEW) held at the Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra.
Occasion
The five-day event assembled development partners, policymakers, educationists, academicians, industry players, students, researchers and staff of the Education Ministry as well as representatives from the agencies under the Ministry.
Among the activities that took place during the conference were paper presentations on selected topics, group discussions, panel discussions and others,
The event organized annually by the Education Ministry in collaboration with its agencies, local and international partners assesses the performance of Government policies, programmes and projects in the Education sector.
Commendation
Dr Makuku commended the Education Minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, for his vision, passion and the role that he is playing towards the development of education in the country.
She described the theme for the event as excellent as it addressed the current global market needs for faster transformation in STEM and TVET which would soon take the nation to the next level.
Call for replication
Dr.Osei Yaw Adutwum -Education Minister
The Quality Assurance and Accreditation (HAQAA) Initiative Project officer stated that Ghana’s National Education Week was a unique event worth replicating in all countries in Africa as she pledged to advocate for many other countries to adopt it to improve their education system.
Background
The 2023 National Education Week which happens to be the 6th edition of the event attracted both local and foreign participants who shared their experiences and best practices in the education sectors of their respective countries.
The well-attended conference would go down in history as one of the best of the NEW due to the response from participants after the event.
There was jubilation amid drumming and dancing by tutors and students of Adoe D/A JHS at Gomoa in the Central Region and Ghana Senior High School (GHANASCO),Tamale, in the Northern Region when the two schools were officially declared winners of the junior high school (JHS) category and the senior high school (SHS) category of the 2023 School Farm competition under the auspices of Blue Skies Foundation and Kosmos Innovation Centre (KIC).
Ghanasco and Odoe D/A JHS displaying their awards
Both tutors and students of the two schools couldn’t hide their joy as they displayed their dancing skills to the admiration of hundreds of participants at the CCB auditorium of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi on Friday, 24th November 2023.
Ghanasco representatives receiving their prize
Odoe D/A JHS, which maintained its 2022 position as the overall best School Farm of the year for the JHS category, took home four desktop computers, a certificate, a plaque and other farm inputs from the sponsors of the competition.
GHANASCO, which emerged as the overall winner of the 2023 School Farm competition, also went home with five desktop computers, a certificate, a plaque and farm inputs from the sponsors.
Mr.Benjamin Gyan-Kesse,the Executive Director of KIC presenting the prize to Odoe D/A JHS
The overall winners were selected from 200 participating schools from 11 regions out of the 16 regions in Ghana for a period of seven to eight months with intensive activities.
The School Farm competition, which is an initiative of Blue Skies Foundation powered by Kosmos Innovation Centre (KIC) and other partners, is an agricultural school challenge project that aims to increase the desire of young people through learning experiences, by providing the schools with inputs (seed and basic farm tools) to cultivate their crops on designated school farms.
In an interview with the Executive Director of KIC, Benjamin Gyan-Kesse, he stated that the initiative would encourage students across the country to consider agriculture as an income-generating venture in their life journey, thereby improving Ghana’s food security.
According to him, the programme aligns with KIC’s mission of driving innovation to create and apply commercial solutions to Ghana’s key development challenges, starting with agriculture.
“Through the support programmes organised by KIC, we’re able to spot and invest in young ‘agripreneurs’ with remarkable innovations,” he said.
“KIC also provides support through tailored coaching, skills building, expert mentorship, seed funding, and facilitating connections within and across industries,” he added.
The Executive Director of KIC said the School Farm competition exposes young people to the opportunities available within the agriculture value chain.
According to him, even though agriculture plays a key role as regards the growth of the Ghanaian economy, majority of the young people are not very interested in agriculture despite the good opportunities it provides.
He said at KIC, they believe in drawing the interest of young people towards agriculture using innovation. KIC Ghana, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, came on board to leverage and help scale up this laudable initiative to reach out to more schools, stressing that school farm competitions provide perfect grounds for their target.
The Chairperson for the event, Nana Yaw Sarpong Siriboe, the 2022 National Best Farmer, who doubles as the Akyempemhene of the Juaben Traditional Area, heaped praises on Blue Skies Foundation and Kosmos Innovation Centre and their partners for the initiative.
He, therefore, encouraged all Ghanaians, especially the young ones, to go into farming since it is agro-business contrary to tagging it as punishment.
“l can tell you that farming is very lucrative and sexy. Let’s all disabuse our minds and encourage our children to go into farming,” he stressed.
Other speakers including the Ashanti Regional Director of Food and Agriculture, Rev. John Manu, representatives of the Ghana Education Service (GES), among others, lauded the School Farm competition and pledged their support to the organisers.
They advised the students to put what they learn from the programme into good and practical use to engender positive changes in their various communities.
The various speakers described the initiative as a big game-changer to the nation’s agricultural sector and, therefore, urged all stakeholders to support it.
The awards
The best school farm of the year 2023 award – Junior High School (JHS) category:
Overall best school farm of the year award – Odoe D/A JHS.
Best school farm of the year award Senior High School (SHS) category:
Overall winner – Ghana Senior High School (GHANASCO),Tamale
1st runner-up – Bepong SHS
2nd runner-up – Mankessim Senor High Technical School (SHTS).
The winners of other awards were: Most entrepreneurial school award (Adoe D/A JHS).
Most committed school 2023 award (Peki SHTS)
The most innovative school farm of the year award – Ecole Ransard School.
Discovery of the year award 2023 – SDA SHS – Gomoa.
Most sustainable school farm of the year award – Ghana Senior High School,Tamale
Other awards are:
Best male school farm of the year award JHS category (Abdul Latif) received a tablet, a plaque and a certificate.
Best Female student JHS category award (Ofeibes Annan of Adoe JHS) also received a tablet, a plaque and a certificate.
For the best male student award SHS category – Bright Anibroka of Bepong SHS received the award with a laptop, a certificate and a plaque, while Effah Yvonne of Peki SHS also was adjudged the best female student for the SHS category with a similar package.
There were several other awards given to deserving persons. They included Ruth Smith Agyei’s special recognition award, the best teacher for both JHS and SHS; judges discretion awards, Anthony Pile special recognition award, Cecil Boamag-Lanptey, among other awards.
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC), is investigating over 2,000 candidates who participated in this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) over suspected malpractices.
These candidates have been summoned to WAEC’s offices to address questions regarding alleged irregularities detected during the exams.
The Council is withholding the results of specific subjects of these candidates until the investigations are concluded.
File photo
Concerned parents are accompanying their children to WAEC’s offices in the Ashanti Region, expressing apprehension about the situation.
One parent said, “I received a message from her headteacher about the situation, so I decided to come here with her. It’s very unfortunate that they’ve asked her to join them in the room. I’m waiting for her to return to know what transpired.”
A headteacher, also a WAEC centre supervisor, also said, “My daughter is part of those who wrote the BECE. I had a message that we should come to WAEC. They said there were irregularities with the exams they wrote. So, we have been here for them to check it.”
On November 9, 2023, the West African Examinations Council revealed that the scripts of 22,270 candidates in certain subjects had been withheld and were under scrutiny for reported cases of mass cheating.
WAEC has indicated that the results may either be cancelled or released based on the outcome of the investigations.
The 2023 National Education Week which is the 6th edition of the event is currently underway at the Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra.
The event organized annually by the Education Ministry in collaboration with its agencies and other local and international partners assesses the performance of Government policies, programmes, and projects in the Education sector.
Present at the event are development partners, academicians, industry players, directors of education, students, policymakers, researchers and others.
Dr.Osei Yaw Adutwum, Education Minister in a group photograph with stakeholders
Opening the session, the Vice President, Dr Mahmoud Bawumia in an address read for him acknowledged and applauded the useful contributions this platform has been in shaping key policy interventions in the sector through the creation of the needed avenue for stakeholders in the education space to deliberate on best practices to improve education delivery in Ghana.
Dr Osei Yaw Adutwum speaking at the event
Some scenes from the event
He stated that “mindful of the reality that education is the best investment, the Government under the leadership of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo- Addo since January 2017 has invested massively for the growth and development of human capital in the country through the implementation of the innovative and transformative programmes in education”.
The Vice President mentioned some of the key innovative and transformative programs in the education sector as the roll-out of Free SHS and TVET; equitable provision of infrastructure at all levels; restoration of teacher trainee allowances; harmonization and prioritization of TVET education with the passage of the Pre-Tertiary Act, 2020 (Act 1049); review of the previous curriculum to focus on 21st Century Skills and the deepening of inclusive, special and complementary education.
Dr Bawumia described the nation’s effort at using STEM education as a driving force for national transformation as crucial and called on all stakeholders to contribute their quota towards its development and sustenance.
“I stand before you today to emphasize the utmost importance of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education in shaping the future of Ghana.
As the Vice President of our great nation, it is both an honour and a responsibility to advocate for the development of a robust STEM and TVET ecosystem that empowers our youth and drives Ghana into a new era of innovation and progress”. he said.
He added that “the evolution of 21st Century Skills and the digitalization era has increased calls for the training of our students in various fields with much focus on STEM and TVET. Indeed, as a country, we cannot overemphasize the overall importance of STEM and TVET education to our socio-economic transformation”.
The Vice President described the theme for this year’s event, “EDUCATION DELIVERY FOR NATIONAL TRANSFORMATION: THE CASE FOR STEM AND TVET’ as very appropriate and timely, where all odds point to the fact that the nation needs to produce a critical mass of human capital with the right skills mix to drive Government’s transformation agenda.
Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, the Education Minister, praised the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, for the huge budget support he has been voting for the education sector leading to a massive transformation in the sector.
He described the ongoing transformation in the education sector as a catalyst for national development and called on all stakeholders to continue supporting the government to ensure that the outcomes would continue to improve
The Education Minister assured the nation of the Ministry’s readiness to foster closer ties with all stakeholders to promote the development of education in the country.
The Vice Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Prof Mrs Rita Akosua Dickson, who chaired the function described the current craving for STEM and TVET education in the country as very laudable since it held the key to changing the state of development in the country.
She reminded the youth to embrace STEM and TVET education which held the key to job creation for the country.
producing from the Colleges are half-baked and not professionally prepared to be posted to teach in our schools?
Furthermore, the Mahama decision to stop the periodic exams align with international practices in educa9on, where countries such as Finland, Singapore, and Canada have implemented similar models that prioritize the acquisi9on of quality skills during the teacher training programme rather than relying solely on periodic examinations.
It is crucial to acknowledge that teachers play a pivotal role in shaping the future of a nation.
Their role extends beyond simply delivering curriculum; they serve as mentors and sources of inspiration to their students.
Stan Xoese Dogbe
By easing the financial burden on teachers and focusing on quality training, the proposal to abolish licensure exams aligns with the broader goals of providing enhanced education opportunities for all children in Ghana.
Let me conclude by saying that the decision to abolish the mandatory licensure exams for teachers demonstrates a commitment to improving the quality of education.
By prioritizing quality training during the teacher trainee phase and linking licensure to ongoing professional development, this proposal will not only empower teachers but also ensure that students receive the education they deserve.
It is our duty as a na9on to support these progressive changes and work towards a brighter future for all Ghanaian children.
Take advantage of technological transformation agenda – GES boss urges tertiary students
By Boakye Baafi
The Director General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Dr. Eric Nkansah, has urged tertiary students in the country to take advantage of the technological transformation agenda which is controlling the workforce in the world.
He noted that technology had become a tool which is transforming the way people live, work, and learn.
According to him, technology is redefining the skills and knowledge needed in modern workforce, hence it has become important for every university student and graduate to show interest in it.
Dr. Nkansah gave the advice when he addressed students and graduands at the 57th congregation of the KNUST College of Humanities and Social Sciences in Kumasi.
He indicated that what would set them apart from their peers in the journey ahead was the development of the soft skills they had gained.
He, therefore, encouraged them to invest in the acquisition of soft skills related to technological transformation.
“While your academic achievements have laid a solid foundation, your soft skills will be the compass guiding your success,” he indicated.
Dr. Nkansah told the graduands that technical expertise alone was not enough in the dynamic landscape they were entering, rather their ability to communicate effectively, collaborate seamlessly, and adapt to change would be their greatest asset. He said those were the soft skills that would transform their knowledge into impact.
The Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG) has expressed support for the licensure exams for teacher trainees, asserting that it is a beneficial policy and should not be cancelled.
The Association’s President, Prince Obeng Himah says the policy provides specialized training for teachers, distinguishing it from other professions.
This goes contrary to the stance of National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama, who has promised to abolish the licensure exams.
Mr Himah believes that cancelling the policy would have a detrimental impact on the entire educational sector.
“In my opinion, it is something that is good and it shouldn’t be cancelled. That is CETAG, we have stated that we should implement what we agreed two years ago when we had a conference that the students wanting to enter the teaching profession should be subjected to entrance exams,” he said in an interview with Accra-based Citi FM on Monday, November 20.
Former President John Dramani Mahama
During his ‘Building Ghana Tour’ in the Bono Region, Mr Mahama pledged to eliminate the exams, arguing that subjecting teacher trainees to an additional assessment for qualification is unnecessary.
According to him, the concept surrounding the entire licensure examination was not well thought through which raises some concerns.
While Mahama advocates for the cancellation of the licensure exams, CETAG emphasises the importance of these exams in ensuring the competence and quality of future teaching professionals.
The Government of Ghana through the Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CTVET) ,has trained over 19,000 master craft persons and apprentices since 2018 under the Ghana TVET Voucher Project (GTVP).
Out of the over 19,000 people, 13,883 of them representing 73 per cent of the beneficiaries are females, whilst 5,179 representing 27 are males.
The Head of Corporate Affairs for CTVET, Mr. Albert Opare, who announced this explained that the Ghana TVET Voucher project (GTVP) is a project under the Ghanaian-German Financial Development Cooperation, co-financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through KfW Development Bank and the Government of Ghana, whiles CTVET is the implementing agency.
Mr Opare announced this on Friday when he interacted with the media after an official visit to the Dabokpa Technical Institute in Tamale in the Northern region, one of the beneficiary institutions of the project.
Demand-driven initiative
He stated that the GTVP provides demand-driven training vouchers to CTVET-registered master craft persons, their apprentices and workers, adding that the vouchers are used to fund competency-based training (CBT) courses in CTVET–-accredited training institutions for certification in National Proficiency Levels I and II and Certificate I and II respectively.
Mr. Opare indicated that the beneficiaries received the training in skills areas such as automotive repairs, cosmetology, garment, welding, consumer electronics, plumbing, electrical installation, block laying and furniture making.
He hinted at plans to expand the project by the government even further and has secured additional funding of 60 million dollars from the World Bank and 40 million Euros from the German Government through KFW Bank to train at least 50,000 more beneficiaries over the next five years.
Great impact
The Head of Corporate Affairs indicated that, in addition to the training provided, the GTVP project has had a very positive impact on the TVET system in Ghana, a key among them being that numerous training institutions have been encouraged through the project to register with CTVET and are keen to achieve official accreditation for CBT implementation.
Again he stated that this had resulted in trade associations and informal sector training providers being encouraged to register with CTVET.
Background
As a result of the implementation of the project, the country has witnessed the Competency Based Training (CBT) approach being implemented on a large scale for a large number of Ghanaian youths.
This has led to the modernization of the traditional apprenticeship system in Ghana through the implementation of the project, and this has strengthened CTVET as the regulatory body for TVET in Ghana.
