Government to focus on Technical Education
Fast Track Court is in national interest -NPP activist
President Kufuor congratulates President Bouteflika
Government to focus on Technical Education
Bibiani (Western Region) 29 June 2002- Government is now going to place emphasis on technical and vocational education to equip the youth with employable skills.
Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, Minister of Education, who disclosed this at Bibiani in the Western Region on Friday, said the committee appointed by the President to review the educational system would come out with its recommendations by the end of July, this year. This, he said, would allow the government to see which direction to go.
Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi was delivering the keynote address at the first Mid-Year Zone Review Conference of District Chief Executives (DCEs) drawn from the Ashanti, Brong Ahafo and Western Regions. The conference is expected to take stock of the achievements and failures of the DCEs and chart a way forward. He said the government was determined to construct about 3,000 schools this year and possibly create additional 10 teacher training colleges.
On the use of English as the medium of instruction for the first three years in primary school, the Minister said, far from the erroneous impression that the government was against the use of Ghanaian languages, government was rather encouraging the learning of a Ghanaian language from class one to the senior secondary school level as an additional language to the mother tongue.
Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi noted that since the German Missionaries developed Akan, Ewe and Ga, to date, only 15 out of the about 55 Ghanaian languages had been developed and wondered why for all these years they could not be developed. He said he would not advise government to implement educational programmes when teachers who are the implementers of the programmes have not been sensitised to them.
Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi said it was the conviction of government that there could be no development without an efficient, credible and sustainable educational system. "This underpins our commitment to ensure that from the basic, secondary to the tertiary levels, the educational system is revamped with a new focus, new dynamism and new purposefulness."
Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, said reports of commendations and condemnations of the DCEs showed that activities were being performed. "But such activities must produce results. Our activities must lead to the creation of wealth. In addition, poverty in our communities must be reduced on daily basis."
The Minister said the Mid-Year Review Meeting going on simultaneously at two other locations at Damango for Northern, Upper East and Upper West DCEs and in Ho for the Central, Eastern, Greater Accra and Volta Regions DCEs, was to further these objectives. He assured the people of the Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekwai District that they would soon have telephone facility through the Tele-hook system to be introduced into the country by a Swiss Company.
Mr Baah-Wiredu also announced that 26 towns, including Bibiani, had qualified for Urban status and that the legislative instrument which would allow for the elevation of their status had been sent to Cabinet for approval. He said the government was seeking Parliamentary approval for 350 million dollars support for the provision of infrastructure in the areas of roads, housing, telephone and water.
Touching on the district assemblies and unit committee elections, Mr Baah-Wiredu said it was very crucial since the disbursement of money for development would now be channelled through the Area Councils. He said any town, which refused to take part in the Elections, would lose whatever benefits should have gone to it. He, therefore, entreated all eligible people to contest the elections.
Mr Joseph Boahen Aidoo, Western Regional Minister, told the DCEs that their understanding of issues and policies pertaining to the running of their districts was very crucial if they were to make the desired headway.
He said their responsibilities had become more crucial in view of pressing problems and government's effort to fight poverty in the district through the Ghana Poverty Strategy Programme, adding that their work would become more effective if they continuously updated themselves on issues and policies on local government administration.
Mr Solomon Addai, DCE for Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekwai, in a welcoming address, appealed for telecommunication system for the district, the elevation of the town to an urban council and the tarring of roads in the township.
Nana Kasapreko Basanyi 111, Paramount Chief of Wassa-Akropong Traditional Area and President of the Western Region House of Chiefs, commended the government for its determination to help develop the road network in the region. He urged the government to work to fulfil the promise since that would create the enabling environment for investment and economic development of the region.
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Prof. Dolphyne calls for support towards
education
Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 29 June 2002- Professor Abena Dolphyne, former Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Legon, has called on all stakeholders to contribute generously towards the provision of quality education, especially for girls.
She said quality training for girls would not only provide the necessary human resource required for national development but would also enable women to acquire basic skills to help them in their daily activities both in the home and the community.
Prof. Dolphyne made the call at the re-launch of the Wesley Girls High School Endowment Fund in Kumasi on Saturday. She said government alone could not provide the needs of all schools in the country, hence the need for organisations like old students associations to contribute both in cash and in kind to support their schools.
Prof. Dolphyne, who is also an old girl, further urged organisations and employers benefiting from the products of schools to contribute towards the development of infrastructure and expansion of the institutions.
Mr Sampson Kwaku Boafo, Ashanti Regional Minister, acknowledged the important contributions made by the school in the development of the nation and said most of its products were currently occupying important positions in all spheres of endeavour.
He said the government recognised the need to arrest the decline of education that was why it had committed a substantial part of its budget towards educational improvement in the country. Mr Boafo appealed to old students to make it a responsibility to uphold and maintain the dignity of their schools by contributing towards its expansion.
The Assistant Headmistress, Mrs Elizabeth Djokoto, mentioned lack of staff accommodation, congestion at the library, dormitories and classrooms as some of the main problems facing the school. She said the school, which currently has 1,172 students, needed expansion to make the students feel comfortable.
The Ashanti Regional President of the Old Girls Association, Mrs Doris Ameyaw, said the association was sponsoring a deaf and dumb girl at a vocational school. It would also contribute to the Otumfuo Education Fund and provide financial assistance to the school. Mrs Ameyaw said the association was also planning to assist the Sickle Cell Unit of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital.
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Takoradi (Western Region) 29 June 2002- Alhaji Aliu Mahama, the Vice-President, on Friday said the government would improve educational facilities. This was contained in an address read for him by Madam Sophia Horner-Sam, Deputy Western Regional Minister, at the foundation laying ceremony for the Takoradi Polytechnic Student Representative Council (SRC) hostel project in
Takoradi.
Alhaji Mahama said this would enable students to perform creditably academically and play their expected role in nation building. He said the Board of Trustees of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) had been charged with the responsibility of providing funds to expand hostel accommodation facilities for all the polytechnics and universitiesin the country.
The Vice President said the government would do what it could to ensure that the project initiated by the SRC was completed. He said although the government was dedicated to promoting the country's education it was important that well-meaning Ghanaians, non-governmental organisations (NGO) and other stakeholders who also benefit from the productsof tertiary education to contribute their quota to help the students to accomplish their mission.
Dr Nicholas Aidoo-Taylor, Principal of Takoradi Polytechnic, said only 500 students representing 12 per cent of the population 4,000 students were accommodated in the three hostels of the institution.
The Principal disclosed that the hostel when completed, would accommodate about 750 additional students and that it was encouraging that the student body had invested some of its funds to start the project. He said the financial capacity of the students would not make it possible for them to complete the project within the shortest possible time and would have to depend on contributions from organisations and other establishments.
Mr. King Godwill Kofi Annan, the SRC President, said many of the private hostels where students of the Polytechnic were staying were dilapidated and lacked toilet and other facilities. He disclosed that the SRC has committed an initial amount of 85 million cedis towards the project.
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Koforidua (Eastern Region) 29 June 2002- As from next academic year, students entering technical institutes in the country would read core science, mathematics and English Language and would be examined in them as part of the papers they would be taking at the end of their courses.
Credits scored from the three papers and other technical subjects would enable the technical students to qualify to enter tertiary institutions as their counterparts from the senior secondary schools.
This was announced by Mr James W. K. Blay, Eastern Regional Director of the Regional Technological Transfer Centre (RTTC) and a member of the Technical Education Review Committee, in reaction to a question at the celebration of this year's African Renaissance Day at Koforidua. This year's celebration is under the theme: "Science and Technology for Health."
He said the Day was set aside by the Organisation of African Unity in 1987 to remind governments and people of Africa about the critical role that science and technology could play in national development.
Mr Blay called on the government to invest more money into science and technological institutions and urged district assemblies, private organisations and individuals to support the idea. He appealed to the assemblies to award contracts to the RTTCs to enable them to provide the needed training to people residing in their respective regions.
Mr Danso Larbi, a Chemistry Tutor of Pentecost Senior Secondary School, appealed to the RTTC to come out with programmes that would enable second cycle school students to visit the centres to see how the science subjects they learnt were applied practically in production.
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 29 June 2002- An ex New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate said at the weekend that the establishment of the Fast Track Court is in the interest of the nation.
Mr George Kwasi Boadu, 1996 Parliamentary Candidate for New Edubiase, said the court, since its inception, has been used to try both criminal and civil cases and is not meant for any witch-hunting.
Speaking to newsmen in Kumasi at the weekend, Mr Boadu said, for instance, that an NPP Minister of Youth and Sports was tried and jailed by the Court and that it is people who have cobwebs in their cupboards who need worry about the work of the court.
He stressed that now that the Supreme Court, through due process of the law, had declared the Court Constitutional, "We all have to allow it to carry on with its constitutional duties". "It is rather unfortunate that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) wants to politicise the Court. From all intents and purposes, the Fast Track Court is a branch of the High Court, which has been equipped with modern facilities to enable it to dispose off cases before it quickly."
Mr Boadu pointed out that the Court was not trying the NDC and that all the cases that had gone before it had been between certain individuals and the Republic of Ghana. "It is quite intriguing that people who took part in unconstitutional government and used unconstitutional methods to dehumanise fellow Ghanaians and made themselves rich now want to take cover under constitutionality to cover their crimes". He said what was happening was just a reminder to all in government that one day they would be called to give account of their stewardship.
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President Kufuor congratulates President
Bouteflika
Accra (Greater Accra) 29 June 2002- President John Agyekum Kufuor on Friday sent a congratulatory message to President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of the Democratic and Peoples Republic of Algeria on the occasion of their 40th independence anniversary.
The message said: "It is our fervent hope that, under your able leadership, Algeria would continue to make great strides in her social and economic development." "May succeeding anniversaries witness the further strengthening of the close bonds of friendship and co-operation that exist between our two countries and peoples," it said.
It said: " Accept, my best wishes for your personal well-being and for the progress and prosperity of the people of Algeria". In another development President Kufuor also sent a congratulatory message to President Pedro Perez of the Republic of Cape Verde on the occasion of their 27th National Day.
The message said: "It is my sincere hope that successive anniversaries would witness the further strengthening of the cordial relations and co-operation that exist between our two countries for the mutual benefit of our people and the West African Sub-region as a whole".
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Ghana Pentecostal Council commends govt
Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 29 June 2002- The Ghana Pentecostal Council (GPC) has commended the government on its effort at uniting the various religious groups as a means of promoting peace and religious co-existence in the country.
The President of GPC, Apostle Dr Micheal Ntumy made the commendation when he led the steering committee of the council to pay a courtesy call on the Ashanti
Regional Minister, Mr Sampson Kwaku Boafo in Kumasi on Thursday. The call was a follow-up to a previous one held between the Council, the Minister on the possibility of organising a national religious breakfast meeting in the country.
Apostle Ntumy cited the intervention of the government before the ban on the drumming and noise-making, was announced by the Ga Traditional Council in May, which prevented violence and confrontation between churches and the Ga Traditional Authorities and the reception held by the Greater Accra Regional
Minister, Sheik I.C. Quaye, which brought together all the religious bodies including traditional authorities, as a clear demonstration of commitment by the government to promote religious co-existence in the country.
He said the Council was trying to project Christianity as a way of inculcating good moral values in the people to minimise the increasing spate of social vices especially among the youth.
Apostle Ntumy described Mr Boafo as the "Daniel of our days, who has been strategically positioned in the government to fight the cause of Christians" and expressed the hope that the government would continue to show enough goodwill towards all religious bodies in the country.
Mr Boafo said it was time the voices of the Pentecostal churches were heard in all spheres of human endeavour. He urged churches to continue to pray for the government for spiritual direction to lead the country to social, political and economic prosperity. The Regional Minister also urged Christians to pray to God to change the attitude of Ghanaians to ensure peace and prosperity in the country.
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