Agona Ofoase, Nov 17, GNA - The chiefs and people of Ofoase in Agona East of the Central Region have appealed to the Minister of Education and Director General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), to reverse the decision of the immediate transfer of the head teacher of the D/A Primary School.      They made the appeal in a petition to the Minister through the Director General of the GES.       Reading a copy of the petition at a news briefing at Agona Ofoase, Nana Asare Acquah said the head teacher of the school, Mr Spencer Somuah’s “sudden transfer from the town has come as a big surprise to the people and all school going children in the area”.       According to Nana Acquah, through Mr Somuah, the school had benefited from a 67,000 dollar six classroom block with modern facilities.       He regretted that Mr Somuah had to lead the chiefs to sign for 200 bags of cement in Tema, but as a result of the transfer the consignment had locked up.      Nana Asare Acquah therefore appealed to the Minister and Director General to reconsider their petition and bring Mr Somuah back to the town to continue his good work.      Mr Somuah was transferred from Ofoase D/A Kindergarten and Primary School to Fante Bawjiase D/A Primary and Junior High School last month.   GNA...

  Koforidua, Nov. 18, GNA - Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Eunice Annor, Eastern Regional Commander of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU), has urged police women to support the efforts of their male counterparts in ensuring peaceful polls in December.         She noted that women and children were the most vulnerable and anything which would undermine the peace of the country should be nibbed in the bud.       DSP Annor, therefore, advised the women to do all they could to maintain peace, before, during and after the upcoming election.       She was speaking after the Police Ladies Association (POLAS),  supported by women of other security agencies and policemen from the Eastern Regional Police command, went on a keep-fit exercise in Koforidua on Saturday.       The exercise, which was aimed at educating people on the effects of violence, took police personnel through the principal streets of Koforidua.       They held placards with inscriptions, “Women care for each other, "Police ladies call for peaceful elections", "War hinders progress and development" and "Our children want to live in peace”.       DSP Annor observed that the country went through five successful elections in which the police women also played their roles to ensure success.       She said they would continue to put in more efforts and position themselves to ensure that the country remained peaceful after the elections.        Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Kwabena Gyamerah-Yeboah, Regional Police Commander, on his part, said the police would not spare any “macho” men who would try to temper with the peace of the country.        He also commended the ladies for their contribution towards attaining peace in the country and urged them to maintain it.   GNA...

Tamale, Nov 17, GNA – More qualified Senior High School (SHS) graduates may not gain admission into public universities from the next academic year (2013/2014) if infrastructural facilities remain as they are now.   This situation will arise because there will be two streams of SHS graduates - the last batch of the four-year SHS graduates, and the first batch of the three-year SHS graduates where the expected number of qualified students will rise.   Public universities may stretch their infrastructure and facilities to their elastic limits but this will still not ensure that all the very qualified applicants will be admitted.   Professor Haruna Yakubu, Vice-Chancellor of the University for Development Studies (UDS), gave the hint during the 13th congregation of the university, which was held at its Tamale Campus on Saturday.   In all, 3,899 graduands, who successfully fulfilled the requirements for the award of Bachelor’s and Diploma qualifications received their certificates while an additional 56 graduate students were awarded certificates in PhD, Master of Philosophy, Master of Artss and Master of Science qualifications.   The congregation, which also marked the 20th Anniversary of the establishment of the UDS, attracted dignitaries including Mr Mahama Ayariga, Deputy Minister of Education, Mr Moses Bukari Mabengba, Northern Regional Minister and representatives of sister universities including Prof Ernest Aryeetey, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana.   Prof Yakubu he said, “if this option is feasible, the funds from government must be released early and now to allow the universities adequately prepare to provide the needed facilities and infrastructure” to accommodate the students.   He said, “We need to be bold, and act now. We need to bite the bullet when and where this is necessary.”   Prof Yakubu stated that the UDS Administration was implementing a number of initiatives to enhance academic exercise, saying it had procured a video conferencing facility to be installed at its Wa Campus as it had done for the Navrongo and Nyankpala campuses.   He further announced that “UDS is in the process of setting up a Video Teleconferencing Centre with a sitting capacity of 25 for the School of Medicine and Health Sciences.”   He thanked the government and the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) for their support through the provision and improvement of infrastructure and academic facilities at the various campuses of the UDS.   He, however, appealed to the government for an increase in budgetary allocation for the university taking into consideration its multi-campus nature.   In a speech read for him, President John Mahama repeated that to one would continue to provide infrastructure to make education accessible to all.   GNA...

Accra, Nov 17, GNA - Dr Okraku-Yirenkyi, Director of Studies at Advanced Information Technology Institute, Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence ICT (AITI-KACE), has called on students to learn consistently in order to become relevant in this fast-pace knowledge economy.   He said that Ghana as a society could develop rapidly if people learn to adapt technology in all sectors.   Dr Okraku-Yirenchi was speaking at the 1st graduation ceremony of the Advanced Information Technology Institute, Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT, in Accra on Saturday.   The ceremony held on the theme: “Promoting IT Professionalism for National Development” was organized by the Ghana-India Kofi Annan centre of Excellence in ICT. It was attended by over 500 people including parents, AITI academic and operations staff, faculty and students.   Leaders of bluechip companies including Mr Kofi Dadzie, CEO of Rancard Solutions; Mr Joseph Odoi, CEO of Main One Cable Company; Mr Philip Sowah, CEO of Airtel Ghana; and Jeremiah Brown Coleman, CEO of Text Genesys; were also present.   Certificates were awarded to 93 graduates out of 2000, who completed this year in courses such as CISCO Certified Network Associate, Fundamentals of Software Development, and Diploma in Business Computing, Web Technology and Sandwich.   Director-General of AITI-KACE, Madam Dorothy K. Gordon noted that the graduation was a public recognition of students who have successfully met the requirements of their respective courses.   She said that the institute had in about 10 years equipped over 10,000 people with ICT skills and had consistently paraded professionals who excelled in various sectors and industries in contributing their quota to national development.   She urged the graduates to be more competitive in order to attain greater heights as the work field is more complicated in relation to their studies.   “Realize, analyze and capitalize opportunities available for you to develop the nation,” Madam Gordon advised.   She said the Centre as the hub of cutting edge technology and innovation, had successfully introduced new post–graduate courses: the Diploma in Advanced Computing (DAC) and Wireless and Mobile Computing (WiMC).   GNA...

Wa, Nov. 17, GNA – The Islamic Education Unit in the Upper West Region has celebrated its 25th anniversary with a call on Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) and School Management Committees (SMCs) to initiate an infrastructure management system.   Alhaji Duogu Yakubu, the Wa Municipal Chief Executive, who made the call, said such a system would complement government’s efforts by making sure that school structures were repaired on regular basis to prevent them from complete breakdown.   Having placed education as their topmost priority in the Municipality, he said, the Assembly had set in motion the provision of decent classroom infrastructure including the provision of furniture in many of the communities.   He noted that society was coming under increasing attack from foreign influences and most of the country’s youths were falling to such temptation and attributed the trend to a receding parental responsibility regarding proper upbringing in the Muslim way.   “These and many other vices serve as a wake-up call on Muslim clerics, Islamic spiritual and moral instructors to ensure this negative debilitating development is nipped in the bud”. Alhaji Yakubu emphasized the need for Muslims to train their youngsters to be law abiding, virtuous and responsible citizens who would be able to handle the mantle of leadership in the future.   The anniversary, which had the theme: “Islamic Education Unit in 25 challenges and the way forward” gave an opportunity for the stakeholders to reflect on how far they had gone in their quest to blend secular education with moral and spiritual Islamic instruction.   Other activities undertaken during the celebration, which started on November 9th, included clean-up campaign by staff and pupils of the Unit, peace walk in Wa, an inter-school debate at the Senior High School level and a soccer competition at the Wa Police Park.   Alhaji Salih Nurideen, Upper West Regional Manager of the Unit, said the Unit was set up in 1987 to provide quality and holistic education to Muslim children in particular and the general public.   He said it had committed itself to inculcating Islamic spiritual and moral values into the youth as well as developing their knowledge and skills in other areas of study.   The Unit since its inception in the region with 18 schools had increased easy access of children in Muslim communities to secular education and could now boast of 107 schools.   Alhaji Nurideen said lack of transport to undertake effective monitoring of their schools in the region and the absence of administrative grants, which had been in arrears since January this year, were serious challenges hindering their performance   GNA...

Accra, Nov.  16, GNA – The Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS) has admitted 147 students on its four Masters Programmes for the 2012/2013 academic year.      The students are made of 126 males and 21 females representing an increase of 81 per cent as against the 2011/2012 academic year.      The programmes include Local Government Administration and Organisation, Local Economic Development, Environment Science Policy and Management and Local Government Financial Management.      Speaking at the Second Joint Matriculation in Accra, Professor Kwasi Kwafo Adarkwa, Former Vice Chancellor of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology expressed excitement that such high calibre personnel could be trained locally and in a cost effective manner.      He said without the institution students would have been trained abroad at a great expense to the nation and over a long period of time.      “This why you should all support the efforts of the institute by studying hard so that in the shortest possible time, we see District Assemblies operate more efficiently so we, as a country, can have real value for pure limited resources,” he said.      To the matriculates, Prof Adarkwa said they are expected to play a key role in the decentralisation programme in the country saying: “You can imagine what the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies will be like without skilled personnel like you.”      He asked the students to commerce their studies with the objective of acquiring the needed skills, knowledge and attitude to solve critical societal problems.      “It is my belief that as you pursue this objective, you would one way or the other be working towards the ultimate vision of the ILGS,” he said.       Dr Esther Oduraa Ofei-Aboagye, Director of ILGS said this year the school adopted two admission tracks; the first in September and the second in February, 2013. She said the February admission would be intended mainly for two programmes to be offered at the Tamale Campus.      The programmes are Local Government Administration and Organisation and the Local Government Financial Management.      She said the move is to offer students on the Northern campus a more conducive learning environment befitting their status as graduate students with refurbished graduate block.      Highlighting on some interventions made by the institute, the Director said the school had started the construction of a Graduate block in Accra comprising offices, lectures halls and faculty lounge.      She said the institute had been able to procure new libraries in Accra and Tamale with the support of German Technical Assistance (GIZ) Organisation Support for Decentralisation Reform Programme (SfDR).      She added that GIZ SfDR is also assisting ILGS to review and re-issue its Programme booklets as well as develop an exciting new curriculum in Poverty Monitoring and Evaluation.       She advised the students to take advantage of the modern technology available in order to gain the competence and confidence that effective change agents and professional require.      GNA...

Accra, Nov. 17, GNA – Mr Isaac Nii Djanmah Vanderpuiye, Deputy Greater Accra Regional Minister, has noted that education plays a crucial role in the molding of the youth and national development.   It is therefore important for the State to pay attention to the institutions that provides training to the youth to become useful agents for development.   The Minister made the observation during the 58th Speech and Prize Giving Day of Saint John's Grammar Senior High School at Achimota in Accra.   Speaking on the theme: "Infrastructural Development- Key to Quality Education,"  he said government is pursuing quality education with infrastructural development as kingpin.   Mr Vanderpuiye said Government is committed to make education affordable, accessible and relevant to the needs of the Ghanaian society through the expansion and provision of infrastructure, teaching and learning materials and adequate training of teachers.   He said it is wrong for the nation to overlook the general welfare of teachers who are the pillars upon which quality education rest on.   He congratulated the Old Students Association for complementing government's effort in making the dreams of quality education a reality.   Mrs Gloria Laryea, Headmistress said text books meant for the first year students as well as personal belongings of students were destroyed by rain.   However, Ghana Education Trust Fund, parents and guardians and the Old Students Association have assisted  the school with infrastructure.   She said government has built a six-unit classroom block, boys dormitory block, girls dormitory block, a 12- unit classroom block whilst the headmistress's office had been renovated.   Mrs Laryea pleaded with Government to help the school with a dining hall and modern kitchen complex, staff bungalows and a modern auditorium and street lights.   On academic performance, Mrs Laryea said she was gratified by the monumental strides made by the school despite its challenges for the 58 years of its existence.   The school has a student population of 2,228 with 117 teaching staff and 39 non-teaching staff.   Master Freeman Easmon ,School Prefect pleaded with the government to provide the academic institution with dinning hall and more dormitory blocks  to cater for the needs of the students.   GNA...