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Ghana: Secondary education in North nearing crisis level – NGO

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África/Ghana/Octubre de 2016/Fuente: Ghana Web

RESUMEN: El Sr. Issifu Salifu Cantón, director ejecutivo de la Alianza para el Desarrollo de la Comunidad (CDA), ha dicho que la educación Senior High School (SHS) en el norte de Ghana se acerca a un nivel de crisis. Dijo que el calendario académico había sido tan afectado que un período de tres años de la educación ahora se había reducido a prácticamente dos años, lo que hace difícil para la enseñanza y el aprendizaje efectivo. El Sr. Issifu Salifu Cantón, quien hizo esto conocido en una conferencia de prensa en Wa, atribuyó la situación al retraso constante en la concesión de subvenciones de alimentación por los sucesivos gobiernos para cubrir los gastos de alimentación de los estudiantes de SHS en el Norte, Noreste y el Upper West Regiones.

Mr Issifu Salifu Kanton, Executive Director of Community Development Alliance (CDA), has said Senior High School (SHS) education in Northern Ghana is nearing a crisis level.

He said the academic calendar had been so badly affected that a three-year period of education had now been reduced to practically two years, making it difficult for effective teaching and learning.

Mr Issifu Salifu Kanton, who made this known at a press conference in Wa, attributed the situation to the consistent delay in the release of feeding grants by successive governments to cover the feeding expenses of SHS students in the Northern, Upper East and the Upper West Regions.

He said it was regrettable to note that since 1992 till date, payment of feeding grants to SHSs in the three regions has remained a challenge and posed one of the biggest threats to the delivery of quality education to the people from the affected regions”.

“As we speak, government has not released funds for the feeding of SHS students for the second and third terms of the 2015/16 academic year as well as the first term of the 2016/17 academic year periods”, he said.

Mr Kanton said the situation has compelled management of these schools to delay the admission of first year students as well as the re-opening of schools for the continuing students.

The NGO is, therefore, demanding that government release all outstanding claims of feeding fees and subsidies to all beneficiary schools within two weeks. It also demanded the immediate realignment of the academic calendar of the SHSs to enable students have at least three years of instructional period as envisaged by the policy blue print on SHS education.

In addition, it said, the progressive free scholarship scheme for the second and third terms of the 2015/16 academic year should be paid immediately to all beneficiary schools.

“We certainly have seen massive infrastructure improvement across board in SHSs. This in no doubt has increased access but the neglect of the soft issues has also negatively affected quality of education service delivery across the three regions,” Mr Kanton said.

Fuente: http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Secondary-education-in-North-nearing-crisis-level-NGO-480873

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Ghana: Teacher absenteeism reduces to 7 percent – Education Minister

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África/Ghana/Octubre de 2016/Fuente: Citifmonline

RESUMEN: La política de tolerancia cero para los Maestros absentismo adoptada por el Ministerio de Educación para mejorar la rendición de cuentas, y aumentar la presencia de los profesores, así como el tiempo en el escritorio en las escuelas ha dado resultados positivos. Después de tres años de su aplicación, la tasa de ausentismo de los maestros ha disminuido del 27 por ciento en 2012 a siete por ciento en 2016. Profesor Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang-, Ministro de Educación, que anunció este en Accra, dijo, el Ministerio seguirá defendiendo el curso hasta que la tasa de ausentismo de los maestros es llevado a cero. Dijo que después de que ella y su equipo había iniciado visitas sorpresa a un sinnúmero de escuelas en todo el país, el Consejo Nacional de Inspección (ONI) y el Servicio de Educación de Ghana (GES) fueron dotados de recursos para intensificar tanto la supervisión externa e interna en las escuelas básicas, entre otras muchas funciones .

The Zero Tolerance for Teacher Absenteeism policy adopted by the Ministry of Education to enhance accountability, and increase teacher presence as well as time on desk in schools has yielded positive results.

After three years of its implementation, the rate of teacher absenteeism has declined from 27 per cent in 2012 to seven per cent in 2016.

Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, Minister of Education, who announced this in Accra said, the Ministry would continue to champion the course until the rate of teacher absenteeism is brought to zero.

She said after she and her team had initiated surprise visits to countless schools throughout the country, the National Inspectorate Board (NIB) and the Ghana Education Service (GES) were resourced to intensify both external and internal monitoring in basic schools, among many other functions.

She, therefore, commended various stakeholders including teachers, the teacher unions, traditional authorities, district education officers, and the parents who supported the Ministry to achieve the result.

“I wish to thank everyone for their cooperation which has helped improve the image of our cherished profession,” she added.

On In-Service Education and Training Programme, the Minister said, in the four-year period, a total of 12,085 Mathematics and 2,387 Science teachers across the country were trained.

Prof Opoku-Agyemang said in addition, 5,626 non-core subject teachers and 5,923 Heads from Public Basic Schools in the 75 deprived districts and low-performing schools (public and private) also received training.

“In our effort to accelerate ICT education at the basic education level, 81,000 basic school teachers have been trained since 2013 to enable them acquire the requisite skills in the use of ICT to facilitate teaching and learning.

“A total number of 54,500 Laptops were procured and distributed to basic school teachers, and 60,000 laptop computers were distributed to public basic schools across the country,” she said.

The Minister said in order to strengthen governance of educational institutions to improve efficiency of education service delivery, the Ministry had over the past two years embarked on a process to review the legal and regulatory framework of some of its agencies.

To date, three bills, namely, Technical University Act, 2016 (Act 992); University of Environment and Sustainable Development Act, 2015 (Act 898), and Chartered Institute of Taxation Act, 2016 (Act 916) have been passed into Acts of parliament and accented by the President.

Prof Opoku-Agyemang announced that Tertiary Education Research Fund Bill had also been approved by Cabinet and is currently before Parliament for Consideration while Ghana Book Development Council Bill was currently at the Attorney General’s Department.

Fuente: http://citifmonline.com/2016/10/22/teacher-absenteeism-reduces-to-7-percent-education-minister/

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Ghana: Focus on quality education; not more schools

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África/Ghana/Octubre de 2016/Autor: Jonas Nyabor/Fuente: Citifmonline

RESUMEN: Un ex director del Servicio de Educación de Ghana (GES), Michael Kenneth Nsowah, dijo que los gobiernos deben centrarse en garantizar una educación de calidad en el país en lugar de construir más instalaciones educativas. Según él, es preocupante tener más escuelas sin embargo, la mayoría de los graduados son incapaces de seguir una educación superior.«Los sucesivos gobiernos desde la independencia han hecho grandes inversiones en la ampliación de plazas en las escuelas, sin embargo, con el aumento de la matrícula no han visto la expansión de la oferta de maestros capacitados y el suministro de los recursos necesarios correspondientes para habilitar las escuelas para funcionar de manera eficiente,» Un investigador en ISSER en la Universidad de Ghana, el profesor Jonathan Fletcher al tiempo que presenta el informe del Instituto en el sector de la educación indica que los gobiernos no han sido capaces de equilibrar la mejora del acceso a la financiación. Profesor Fletcher reconoció que, la idea de mejorar el acceso era loable y necesaria, pero también señaló que «no estamos en condiciones de proporcionar suficientes fondos para mejorar la infraestructura.»

A former director of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Michael Kenneth Nsowah, says governments must focus on ensuring quality education in the country rather than building more educational facilities.

According to him, it is worrying to have more schools yet majority of the graduates are unable to pursue higher education.

“Successive governments since independence have invested heavily in the expansion of places in schools, however, the increase in enrollment have not seen corresponding expansion in the supply of trained teachers and the supply of the needed resources to enable the schools to function efficiently,” he said.

He expressed worry that successive governments continue to credit their achievements in quality educational delivery in the number of schools built; rather than achievements on performance.

Michael Kenneth Nsowah was speaking at the first national conference of the University Teachers’ Association of Ghana (UTAG) at the University of Ghana on the theme, “The Quality of Manpower and Teaching at the Pre-Tertiary Level: Its Impact on University Education.”

He noted that, such qualitative assessment of education “is a phenomenon that was reminiscent of the emerging stage of colonialism” used to measure the level of development.

“…and this thing is continuing, we are fighting over ‘I built 20 schools, you built one school’ and this is taking us no where, because at the core of the whole educational enterprise is quality.”

Michael Nsowah opined that, the low investment and interest in qualitative issues in the primary education may be attributed to the fact that most research findings and reports that expose weaknesses in the educational system, are often ignored or defended to avoid embarrassment or criticism.

“Each year, when we talk about the failure of the candidates; BECE or WASSCE we sweep it under the carpet,” he said.

He said it was worrying that most Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) graduates fail in the core subjects, making it difficult for them to gain admission into secondary and tertiary institutions respectively.

‘Imbalance in infrastructure eroding quality education’

The Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), recently cited inadequate funding as one of the main reasons for the erosion of quality education at all levels in Ghana.

A researcher at ISSER at the University of Ghana, Professor Jonathan Fletcher while presenting the institute’s report on the education sector indicated that governments have not been able to balance improved access with funding.

Professor Fletcher acknowledged that, the idea of improving access was commendable and necessary, but he also noted that, “we are not able to provide enough funding to improve infrastructure.”

Fuente: http://citifmonline.com/2016/10/12/focus-on-quality-education-not-more-schools-nsowah/

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Ghana: Technical education would be given more attention Minister

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África/Ghana/Octubre de 2016/Fuente: Citimonline

RESUMEN: Profesora Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang-,  Ministra de Educación, ha afirmado el compromiso del gobierno para mejorar la enseñanza técnica y profesional, así como la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de las matemáticas y la ciencia en el país. Esto, dijo, ha llevado a la reorientación de las puntuaciones de la ciencia y los profesores de matemáticas en los niveles básico y secundario de la escuela, y se aseguró la provisión de los recursos pertinentes para impulsar el interés de los estudiantes en el estudio de esos objetos. La medida se espera construir una base sólida para la formación tecnológica robusta y apuntalar la matrícula de los estudiantes técnicos en la educación terciaria. «Estamos formando a miles de profesores de estas materias en los niveles básico y secundario con la esperanza de entrar en el futuro, para poder ver a más estudiantes en todas estas disciplinas», dijo.

Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, the Minister for Education, has affirmed government’s commitment to improve technical and vocational education as well as the teaching and learning of mathematics and science in the country.

This, she said, has led to the reorientation of scores of science and mathematics teachers at basic and secondary school levels, and ensured the provision of relevant resources to boost students’ interests in the study of such subjects.

The move is expected to build a solid foundation for robust technology training and shore up enrolment of technical students in tertiary education.

“We have retrained thousands of teachers of these subjects at the basic and secondary levels with the hope of going into the future, to be able to see more students into all these disciplines,” she said.

“Because we know that if we have to turn our primary commodities into those that have value-added then we need to seriously pay attention to technical and vocational education.”

Professor Opoku-Agyemang was addressing scores of students, lecturers, parents and guardians as well as local and international partners at the 10th Anniversary durbar of the Ghana Technology University College (GTUC).

The anniversary was on the theme: “Connecting the dots,” which took retrospective and prospective assessment of entrepreneurship, information technology and engineering training in Ghana after GTUC was inaugurated 10 years ago.

Though these subjects, she said, has been posing as a “threat” to students, they played invaluable roles in technology education for sound knowledge and skill building that would accelerated national economic growth.

“These subjects form the basis of our education, [as such] we need to seriously take another look at how we teach mathematics and science, especially at the basic levels.”

“What is about these subjects posing threat to our students,” she quizzed, and urged state parties to forge private and public partnership as guaranteed by the country’s 1992 Constitution in order to promote quality technology education”

“Sometimes it is labelled that private participation [in education] is focusing on the humanities but GTUC has upturned that argument” referring to other universities as veering off their mandate which GTUC has defied and continue to stick to its statutory obligation of offering technology inclined courses.

She expressed delight that at least the country has two private medical schools, “something that has taken us too long a time to come to fruition.”

Dr Osei Kofi Darkwa, the President of GTUC, chronicled several achievements of the University, first used as a Royal Air Force Training School during the Second World War and subsequently handed to Cable and Wireless to train Telecommunications Technicians for British West African Countries – Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia.

The University which begun as a training centre – teaching certificate courses – has developed into a fully-fledged accredited university with campuses dotted across the country and West Africa.

School authorities say GTUC student population has climbed to over 8,000 pursuing more than 28 undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Engineering, Informatics and IT Business.

The University has established “functional and mutually beneficial partnerships” with over 20 institutions and universities worldwide, Dr Darkwa said.

Some notable partnership institutions includes Aalborg University in Denmark; Anhalt University, Germany; Staffordshire and Coventry Universities, UK; University of West Scotland and CASS Europe, Belgium; and Lexemborg;

Others are MS Ramiah, India; Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology; Central State University; Southern State University, US, Jiangsu and Gulin Universities, China.

Dr Darkwa said the institution received many awards including one at the Business Initiative Award Summit for the university’s “contribution to technology education” and the Socrates Award for being “one of Africa’s most progressive universities.”

It also obtained the European Society for Quality Research Best Practices Award for “implementing outstanding quality management strategies and the Le Matinal Educational Excellence Award which was received for being the best Telecoms University.

GTUC has been ranked as the best private university in Ghana and the fourth among all universities in the country.

Fuente: http://citifmonline.com/2016/10/01/technical-education-would-be-given-more-attention-minister/

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Ghana: Teachers to call off strike as gov’t grants them new conditions of service

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África/Ghana/Septiembre de 2016/Fuente: Pulse.com

RESUMEN: Los profesores de los Colegios de Educación anunciaron una huelga indefinida el lunes 12 de septiembre, por las diferencias salariales con sus colegas de otras instituciones terciarias. Indicaciones surgieron el martes 20 de septiembre de 2016 durante la huelga de los maestros de la Facultad de Educación. Esto se debe a que el Ministerio de Hacienda ha aprobado  la migración de personal de la Facultad de Educación (COE) del Servicio de Educación de Ghana (GES) a la nómina del Consejo Nacional de Educación Superior (NCTE) y el pago de los nuevos niveles. La Facultad de Educación se les dio estatus terciario en 2004 a raíz de la recomendación del Comité Anamuah-Mensah. Después de eso, los maestros han estado presionando para ganar la misma estructura salarial de sus colegas de otras instituciones terciarias.

Indications emerged on Tuesday, September 20, 2016 that the strike action by teachers of the Colleges of Education may not last for a long time before it is called off.

This is because the Ministry of Finance has approved for the migration of staff of the Colleges of Education (COE) from the Ghana Education Service (GES) payroll to that of the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) and the payment of the new levels.

A letter signed by the Minister of Finance, Mr Seth Terkper (addressed to the Controller and Accountant-General and copied to all the relevant parties), stated, “Following the attainment of tertiary status by the 37 colleges of education, approval is hereby given for staff of the colleges of education on the Ghana Education Service payroll to be migrated onto the NCTE payroll.”

“Per this approval, salaries, retention premium, critical support allowance and conversion difference are to be paid to eligible staff,” the letter said.

“Please note that the payment of all other allowances are to be made in accordance with the approved rates of the categories two and three allowances,” it added.

Teachers in the Colleges of Education announced an indefinite strike on Monday, September 12 over salary differences with their colleagues in other tertiary institutions.

The Colleges of Education were given tertiary status in 2004 following the Anamuah-Mensah Committee’s recommendation.

Following that, the teachers have been pushing for the same salary structure with their colleagues in other tertiary institutions.

They claim multiple attempts to get authorities to address their concerns have proved futile.

But the Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Tertiary Education, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has expressed optimism that the teachers might soon call off their strike action following a meeting between the ministry and the executives of CETAG, upon which the letter containing their new conditions of service was presented to them.

The letter made it clear that “not all the existing staff of the COE meet the minimum requirements of the new scheme of service for COE developed by the NCTE”.

“Thus not all staff of the COE are to be migrated onto the Single Spine Grade Structure of the COE. Staff who do not meet the minimum requirements are subsequently to be placed on the GES payroll,” the letter stated.

It added that “All such job holders are to receive conversion difference in line with the principles of the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP) in order not to make them worse off. In the interim, retention premium and critical support of 15 per cent paid to the teaching and some selected non-teaching staff of the COE will continue to be paid until government directives on the payment of premiums and any other related allowance are reviewed.”

Fuente: http://pulse.com.gh/campus/colleges-of-education-teachers-to-call-off-strike-as-govt-grants-them-new-conditions-of-service-id5513330.html

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Ghana: Deputy Minister appointment for TVET unnecessary

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África/Ghana/Septiembre de 2016/Fuente: All Africa

RESUMEN: VIAM Africa hace una reflexión sobre las políticas de  la educación describiendo como en los planes del gobierno no hace falta nombrar un secretario de estado para hacerse cargo de la Educación Técnica y Formación Profesional (EFTP) en Ghana. El grupo de expertos también insiste para establecer un colegio de educación para capacitar a los maestros para la educación infantil. En un documento de cinco páginas se manisfetaron los aspectos más destacados del presidente para las elecciones de 2016, VIAM África afirma que el viceministro actual de la educación responsable de la educación superior puede, sin ningún problema, llevar a cabo una supervisión transparente de la enseñanza técnica en Ghana. El grupo de expertos cree que, si se toma su sugerencia,  salvará  una cierta cantidad de recursos del país.

VIAM Africa, a policy think tank on education has described as needless government’s plans to appoint a deputy minister to take charge of Technical and Vocational Educational Training (TVET) in Ghana.

The think tank also insists, plans by government to establish a college of education to train teachers for early childhood education can only be superfluous.

In a five page reaction to the president’s manifesto highlights for the 2016 election, VIAM Africa maintains the current deputy minister of education responsible for tertiary education can, without any problem, undertake a seamless supervision of technical education in Ghana.

The think tank believes, their suggestion, if taken will save the country some amount of resources.

VIAM Africa argued that appointing a seperate deputy minister for Technical education will «further segregate TVET from general/grammar type secondary school and would not in any way solve the problems at the TVET subsector.»

President John Mahama on Tuesday gave a two hour highlight on the yet to be launched NDC manifesto during which he touched on many sectors of the country’s development agenda.

Education was among the prominent issues highlighted by the president with a flurry of promises.

Amongst the promises include the plans to provide students at the basic and secondary level tablets on which to read their text books.

The president also promised to appoint a deputy minister in charge of technical and vocational educational training and to build a brand new College of Education to train new teachers for early childhood education in Ghana.

But VIAM Africa does not understand why government plans to build a new institution when there are existing institutions doing same.

«The establishment of a college of education (CoE) responsible for training teachers in early childhood education is superfluous. This will just increase government expenditure on our scarce resources. Currently, the University of Cape Coast and the University of Education, Winneba run programmes in Early Childhood education to train teachers for the early grades,» VIAM Africa said.

The think tank would rather government upgrades the curriculumM in the existing institutions to conform to modern trends in training at that level.

VIAM Africa, said despite the strides made in education over time there has been a misalignment of the government policies and the general development aspirations.

«Although the government has made significant progress in the education sector, most of the policy targets and interventions appear to lack clarity and focus, uncoordinated and do not align with neither our long to medium term development aspirations nor the UN’s sustainable development goal four (SDG 4) of promoting inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all,» VIAM Africa suggested.

Fuente: http://www.myjoyonline.com/news/2016/September-14th/manifesto-watch-deputy-minister-appointment-for-tevt-unnecessary-viam-africa.php

 

 

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Ghana: Minister for Education Presents Learning Materials to Basic Schools for the 2016/2017 Academic Year

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África/Ghana/11 de Septiembre de 2016/Fuente: All Africa

RESUMEN: El Ministro de Educación, Prof. Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang-, ha hecho una presentación de los suministros de rutina de aprendizaje y material didáctico a las escuelas de base para el año académico, a partir del martes, 13 de de septiembre de 2016. En una breve discusión con los medios de comunicación en Accra el martes, dijo que todas las escuelas públicas de todo el país fueron dotadas con suministros tales como tizas, registros, cuadernos de clase de los profesores y libros de ejercicios para que todos los estudiantes tengan un año académico exitoso y de calidad. Dando la descomposición, dijo el profesor Opoku Agyemang-, para el año académico 2016/2017,  el gobierno habían comprado un total de 350.000 registros de asistencia, 230.000 libros para maestros   y 2.400.000 cajas de tiza blanca. Además, dijo, el gobierno también ha puesto a disposición de 209,415 uniformes escolares y 40.000 sandalias escolares, así como diccionarios 2,549,647 para las escuelas básicas de todo el país.

Minister for Education, Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, has made a presentation of routine supplies of learning and teaching material to Basic Schools for the academic year, beginning Tuesday, September 13, 2016.

In a brief discussion with the media in Accra on Tuesday, the Minister said with the presentation, all public schools across the country were to be furnished, upon re-opening, with supplies such as chalks, registers, teachers’ lesson notebooks and exercise books to enable all students have a successful and quality academic year.

Giving the break down, Prof. Opoku-Agyemang said, for the 2016/2017 academic year, her office and government had purchased a total of 350,000 attendance registers, 230,000 teachers note books and 2,400,000 boxes of white chalk.

In addition, she said, government had also made available of 209,415 school uniforms and 40,000 school sandals as well as 2,549,647 dictionaries for basic schools across the country.

She disclosed that the Ministry of Education, in a joint partnership with the Publishers and Printers Association of Ghana, had completed the procurement process for the supply of Core Text Books to Senior High Schools (SHSs).

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang stated that in the 2016/2017 academic year, contracts were awarded for the supply of 52, 773 pieces of assorted furniture to both basic and SHSs.

Touching on school fees, the Education Minister said the Ministry, in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service (GES) Council, had developed standardized approved fees for SHSs in respect of 2016/2017 academic year.

According to Prof. Opoku-Agyaman, Day SHS students were expected to pay an amount of Four Hundred and Sixty Ghana Cedis (GH¢ 460.00), while the boarders would pay a fee of Nine Hundred and Twenty Two Cedis, Twenty Pesewas (GH¢ 922.20), for the first term only.

She said the first term fees included one-off payment of uniforms, house dresses, P.E Kits, school cloth, medical exams and school supplies.

She disclosed that as part of the progressively free education mandate of government in the Constitution, government would absorb 12 fee items on the bill, namely examination, entertainment, national science and maths quiz, science development, utilities, library, Information and Communications Technology (ICT), sports, culture co-curricular activities and Student Representative Council (SRC) dues, adding that the charges only applied to government schools.

She noted that parents still had a huge responsibility towards their wards in school and appealed to all stakeholders to work with GES Council in approving any fees to be charged within their jurisdiction.

Fuente: http://allafrica.com/stories/201609091033.html

Fuente de la imagen: http://www.networkjungle.com/education-in-ghana/

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