Day: October 5, 2022

Dormaa-Ahenkro (B/R), Oct.04, GNA – Osagyefo Oseadeyo Agyemang Badu II, Paramount Chief of Dormaa Traditional Area has implored the government to tackle unemployment and irregular migration to save the majority of the unemployed youth from risks associated with perilous journeys and irregular migration.

Many risked their lives travelling through deserts to the Gulf States and other places abroad in search of jobs and to fulfil hopes for better lives due to joblessness at home, but most such people ended up worsening their plight because of the hostile environments they trapped themselves in, he said.

Osagyefo Agyemang Badu II, also the President of the Bono Regional House of Chiefs was addressing the students, old students, staff, and stakeholders of the Dormaa Senior High School (DORMASS) at a durbar organised to climax the 75^th celebration of the establishment of the school at Dormaa-Ahenkro in the Dormaa Central Municipality of the Bono Region.

The year-long event was under the theme “Educating the Youth for Sustainable Development”.

He said sustaining initiatives, introducing new and innovative ideas, and creating the enabling environment for the creation of employment could help to alleviate the plight of the teeming unemployed youth.

Osagyefo Agyemang Badu II recounted the numerous benefits he had gained in life through education, saying such a story could not be told without the mention of DORMASS and the quality training he received as an old student.

He, therefore, encouraged the staff, students, and other stakeholders to work even harder to improve the academic performance of the school.

Osagyefo Agyemang Badu II advised the students to study hard to justify the investments being made in them by their parents and guardians.

He pledged an amount of GhC10,000.00 towards the completion of the school’s fence wall project and assured an additional amount of GhC30,000.00 and 1,000 bags of cement would be added if the school authorities started work on an 18-unit classroom block.

 

 

Source: Ghana News Agency

 

Dormaa-Ahenkro (B/R), Oct. 05, GNA – The quality of the Free Senior High School (FSHS) education programme is not poor but good, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, the Minister of Education, has asserted.

The “FSHS programme did not come to diminish the quality of the country’s education,” Dr Adutwum said and expressed optimism that the right interventions being implemented by the government would ensure the quality level of the programme and would always be at par with increased students’ enrolment.

He observed that some people contended enrolment had increased with resultant diminished quality, but that was wrong and not plausible because, in education policy, quality could be increased alongside enrolment.

Dr Adutwum made the point, in a speech read on behalf of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo at a durbar organised by the board, management and old students of the Dormaa Senior High School (DORMASS) to climax the 75th-anniversary celebration of the school, at Dormaa-Ahenkro in the Dormaa Central Municipality of the Bono Region.

The well-attended event was on the theme: of “Educating the Youth for Sustainable Development”.

Dr Adutwum cited a number of factors and ways, which could lead to enhanced quality of education such as students’ punctuality to school and getting more time for instructions, provision of textbooks to students and payment of teachers for interventions.

He bemoaned the low number of students reading science programmes in the school and therefore directed the school management to take steps to increase the number and assured them that efforts would be made soon for the supply of chemistry, physics and biology laboratory equipment to the school to enhance effective teaching and learning of science.

Dr Adutwum described the school as a perfect example of improved quality of education under the FSHS education policy and referred to available statistics, which suggested a steady increase in the numbers of students who had gained admission to universities from 2016 to 2020.

In 2016, before the FSHS was introduced, the number of students who qualified to enter the universities was 21.5 per cent, but after the introduction in 2017, it was 50 per cent, he said, adding that in 2018, it rose to 55 per cent, whilst 2019 was even better at 78.2 per cent and increased to 89 per cent in 2020.

Dr Adutwum said the government was determined to transform the nation, hence, the introduction and promotion of new education policies in teaching and learning such as Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and Technical, Vocation, Education and Training (TVET), critical thinking approaches and expansion of teacher education from three to four years.

The essence of teacher education and training years increase, “is to build and strengthen the development, competency, capacity and skills of teachers to enable them to impact positively on school children to accelerate the socio-economic development of the country,” he explained.

Dr Adutwum advised the students to eschew laziness and be more focused on studying seriously to guarantee them the success to attain their respective future academic and professional goals.

Madam Justina Owusu-Banahene, the Bono Regional Minister earlier in an address said the occasion must encourage the teaching and non-teaching staff and students to work even harder to propel the school to attain more laurels.

She gave an amount of Gh¢10,000 as a personal contribution to the anniversary programme.

 

 

Source: Ghana News Agency

Atasomanso (Ash), Oct.05, GNA – The Rotary Club of Kumasi-East, has underscored the need for the girl child to be empowered to stay in school even when in their menstrual period.

Ms Sharon Afriyie Ofori-Kuragu, President of the Club said there had been cases, where most girls stayed out of school due to challenges with menstrual hygiene.

Addressing pupils of the Atasomanso M/A Basic School in the Kwadaso Municipality of Ashanti Region, Ms Ofori-Kuragu, said Rotary International recognized the need to intensify education on menstrual hygiene to the public, especially in schools, to avert some of the horrible experiences adolescent girls go through during that time of the month.

The Club had gone to the school to donate educational and literacy materials to the school and educate the pupils on menstruation and menstrual hygiene.

Items donated included 1,000 pieces of exercise books, mathematical sets, pens, pencils and reading books.

The Club also presented packs of sanitary towels to adolescent girls in the school.

Ms Ofori-Kuragu said girls needed to ensure proper menstrual hygiene to prevent body odours to keep them confident, adding that menstruation was a natural phenomenon that girls must not shy from.

She asked the girls to stay away from early and unprotected sexual intercourse and sexual desires that could hinder their educational achievement.

Touching on the long-term relationship with the school, Ms Ofori-Kuragu said the chief in the area had donated land for the Club to build a library for the school.

The Club, on the other hand, has in the last three years, been donating learning materials which had contributed to improving performance in the school.

Ms Ofori-Kuragu said the Club would soon embark on a project to equip the school’s science and Information and Communication Technology Laboratory and motivate teachers with materials to facilitate teaching and learning.

Mr Godfred Bonsu, Head Teacher of the school, expressed appreciation to the Club for the gesture and promised to work hard to ensure the pupils put the educational materials to effective use.

He said the teachers were working to inculcate the habit of reading into the children to enable them to be fluent and read and understand their examination questions.

 

Source: Ghana News Agency

 

Accra, Oct. 5, GNA – A regional workshop on the EPIC Response Framework: “Innovative Governance for Flood and Drought Risk Management” has been held in Accra, with a call on stakeholders to apply innovative solutions to flood and drought challenges in West Africa.

The workshop followed an EPIC Response Framework Report launched in June 2021 for which Phase Two is being started to operationalize its content to help apply it in specific country contexts with the goal of improving policy dialogue and operations.

It was organised jointly by the Global Water Partnership in West Africa, the Country Water Partnership of Ghana (CWP-Ghana), the ECOWAS Water Resources Management Centre, the World Bank and the World Meteorological Organisation.

Phase Two focuses on the development of the EPIC Response Assessment Methodology (ERAM) to support clients to assess the status of their hydro-climatic risk management systems and discern a road map for strengthening its programme components.

The ERAM is a decision support system to inform the continuous evolution of flood and drought management systems to ultimately help deliver better services to communities to increase resilience to hydro-climatic stresses.

Madam Cecilia Abena Dapaah, the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources who made the call in a speech read on her behalf said because of the dire social and economic consequences of drought and floods in the sub-region, respective Governments had taken various steps to deal with them, which some measures of successes have been achieved.

She said: “However, a lot more needs to be done to make the most impact, and to achieve this, we are required to develop and apply innovative solutions at the local, national, and trans-boundary levels in the context of flood and drought risks management,” she stated.

She said there was the need for Governments to prioritize, accelerate and scale-up their responsive mechanisms in the decades ahead, and that “I consider this regional workshop being held under the flagship Report: ‘An EPIC Response: Innovative Governance for Flood and Drought Risk Management very timely and significant.”

Mr. Benjamin Ampomah, Chair, Country Water Partnership of Ghana (CWP-Ghana) called for a fundamental shift in the way natural resources are managed including water in terms of their associated risks in respect to extreme climatic events.

“This fundamental shift in my view should start with local solutions which are actions on responsible governance that will stabilize the environment and also the resources in a more holistic manner,” he stated.

Mr. Ampomah said, for instance, there was the need to improve critical governance issues such as coordinating and enforcing regulations in respect to response to extreme events and others.

He said: “Working in silos, especially within the public sector, and of course I will limit myself to Ghana for now, but I do know that at least within the sub-region it is basically the same. We cannot avoid working in silos, but what is required is to build bridges among this hitherto silo-based institutions in terms of our activities,” he stated.

The Chair said; “We have NADMO in Ghana under a different ministry, the Hydrological Department under another ministry, the Ghana Meteorological Agency, Water Research Institute, Local Government, they all have their mandate, but we need to build bridges to carry on and resolve the risks that we face.

“Carry out your mandate, do what you are supposed to do, but let build bridges in respect to governance to solve the problems that we have, because most of these problems that we have are cross-sectoral and we need to build bridges in terms of response,” he stated, adding; “It is therefore refreshing that the Global Framework on EPIC governance seeks to underscore this idea.”

Mrs. Adwoa Paintsil, the Acting Executive Secretary of the Water Resources Commission in a welcoming address said Ghana had over the past recent years put in a lot of effort in flood and drought management to minimize the extreme hydro-climatic disaster risks.

“However, for us in the Water Resources Commission, we do recognise that the management of floods and droughts is also a matter of governance involving a mix of several relevant institutions and stakeholders.

“We, therefore, appreciate and are encouraged that the EPIC Response Framework will serve us as the way forward to invest in strong partnerships and cooperation, at all levels, to stimulate the exchange of knowledge, tools, and resources to manage the risks of floods and droughts more comprehensively and systematically,” Mrs. Paintsil stated.

She expressed gratitude to all partner institutions and key stakeholders for their contributions to the Framework.

 

Source: Ghana News Agency

A well-known Ghanaian female broadcaster with the Accra-based GHOne TV, a subsidiary of the EIB Network media group, has incurred the wrath of Barcelona fans on Twitter.

The journalist, who happens to be a diehard fan of the Kumasi-based Asante Kotoko, has placed the Ghanaian club ahead of the Barcelona football club after their recent UEFA Champions League defeat.

According to the journalist, Asante Kotoko football club is way bigger than Barcelona and her reason is that the European club in its recent encounter with Inter Milan in Italy played very badly, which led to their 1-0 defeat.

In a tweet on Tuesday, October 4, spotted by Modernghana News, she stated, “Kotoko is bigger than Barcelona.”

As usual, her tweet was swiftly rebutted by some Barcelona fans who think the assertion does not make sense because Kotoko has nothing meaningful to show in terms of football laurels to be compared to the “giant” Barcelona.

Meanwhile, at the continental competition level this season, Kumasi Asante Kotoko has been eliminated after a round of preliminary matches in the CAF Champions League by Kadiogo FC from neighbouring Burkina Faso.

Barcelona, on the other hand, has been abysmal after losing two games in a row with only three points after three games, making them the third on the league log.

Check below for some replies to Serwaa Amihere’s tweet.

 

Source: Modern Ghana

Former Ghana captain, Asamoah Gyan has insisted he never said he wants to return to the Black Stars ahead of the 2022 World Cup.

Gyan speaking to BBC in an interview he habours the desire to feature at the Mundial.

The 37 year old who has been clubless for the last two years was critcized by many Ghanaian football fans.

However Gyan, who remains the country’s top goal scorer has reitearated that he was misquoted.

“I never said I will play for the Black Stars. I was misquoted. But if the people need me and there’s any motivation why not I can risk and come,” he told Accra based Angel FM.

Gyan is the all-time leading goalscorer of the Ghana national team, with 51 goals.

He represented Ghana at the 2006, 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cups.

• What did Asamoah Gyan told the BBC?

“Talent wise, everything is there already, so I just have to prepare physically,” he told the BBC World Service.

“The World Cup is every footballer’s dream. I think I’ve got a bit of energy left in me to prove myself once again.

“I’ve been out for almost two years now due to injuries but I just need to get my body back in shape. It’s an eight-week programme and according to my physical instructor I’m improving faster than he thought.

“Then I must see how my body reacts to playing competitive football.”

“I haven’t announced my retirement,” he said.
“Anything can happen, you know. It’s happened before, talking about Cameroon in 1994, with Roger Milla coming back from retirement to play in a World Cup.”

“Honestly I haven’t spoken to anybody at all,” Gyan said.

“It’s part of the plan. I just want to make sure I see how my body reacts first. I just need to get to some level and then I can say I’m ready.

“Everything looks positive, so we’ll see what happens. There might be a surprise.”

 

 

Source: Modern Ghana

Former Black Stars coach, Milovan Rajevac, says he was not given enough time to prepare for the 2021 African Cup of Nations [AFCON] campaign, hence the country’s poor performance.

Following the dismissal of CK Akonnor, the Ghana Football Association [GFA] re-appointed the Serbian trainer on a one-year renewable deal ahead of the AFCON.

However, the Black Stars failed to progress from the group phase and exited the tournament with just a point after three games.

Speaking about Ghana’s performance in the tournament which resulted in his sacking, the 68-year-old claimed that he didn’t get enough time to implement his ideas as he did during his first stint from 2008 to 2010.

“Last time I didn’t have enough time to implement everything I wanted, like the first time in Ghana. To achieve great targets, time is of the essence,” he said in an interview with Kumasi-based Akoma FM.

He added that he won’t turn down a future opportunity to coach the Black Stars for the third time as he has unfinished business with the team.

“I have unfinished business with Black Stars. No one knows what the future holds. Ghana is my second home, so if another opportunity arises for me to come there, I will consider it seriously.”

Rajevac was dismissed after the Black Stars’ poor performance and was replaced by Otto Addo who led Ghana to qualify for the 2022 World Cup.

 

Source: Modern Ghana

 

Former Ghana international, Asamoah Gyan, says Africa needs to plan and inject an effort to win the World Cup.

The former Liberty Professionals striker remains the country’s all-time leading goal scorer with six goals having featured in 2006, 2010, and 2014 in Germany South Africa, and Brazil respectively.

In the history of the global showpiece, the farthest an African country has reached the Mundial is the quarter-final round; Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002, and Ghana in 2010.

Gyan suggests the quarter-final has been Africa’s long-standing boundary simply because there’s no calculated attempt from the continent.

“We have to make sure we plan ahead, I think that is our problem. Some countries plan years – let’s say ‘in 10 years we have to win the World Cup’. So it’s a plan people take, and that’s why I’m saying it’s a process.

“I’m sure an African country will win it one day, but I don’t know when,” Gyan said in an interview.

“As an African, that is my prayer, I want an African country to also win it, that is what every African is hoping for [but] it depends how the teams approach the tournament. I remember in 2006, the Czech Republic was number 3 in the World, the United States, was number 5, and then there was Germany and Italy. So we [Ghana] were underdogs, everyone thought we were going home.

“But we were able to get through to the next stage of the competition. When you are going to a tournament, how you approach it matters, not the kind of players you have. Statistically, there are favorites, but you have to go and see what happens.”

Meanwhile, Gyan, 36, has shared his desire of making a return with the Black Stars ahead of this year’s edition in Qatar, a wish many Ghanaian faithful are against since he has been out of professional football for close to a year.

 

 

Source: Modern Ghana