Day: February 17, 2023

Cape Coast, – Frustrated parents have besieged the Central Regional office of the Free Senior High School (SHS) Secretariat in feverish attempts to secure SHS placements for their wards.

This follows the release of the long-awaited Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) list by the Ghana Education Service (GES) Wednesday and Thursday, February 15, 2023.

The system placed 372,380 students, representing 69.24 per cent in one of their school choices, leaving 165,619 others, representing 30.76 per cent to do self-placement.

In all, a total 538,399 out of the 547,329 candidates who sat for the 2022 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) qualified for placements, which suggests that 8,390 candidates could not qualify for Secondary, Technical and Vocational education.

The Ghana News Agency (GNA) met about 30 parents and their wards at the Free SHS Office located at the Regional Coordinating Council around 11:00 hours and observed more of them trickling in momently.

For some parents, their wards had not been given a school at all, while others were not happy about the schools their children got.

The situation has left many parents and students desperate, jittery and angry with barely some days to report to school.

Madam Esther Owusu, a parent, indicated that her daughter who scored aggregate 18 and sought to do science in her choice of schools, including Wesley Girls, Ghana National College and Aggrey Memorial was not given any of them .

She was of the view that if her daughter’s grade did not qualify her to do science in any of her selected schools, she should be given the opportunity to study a different course in any of the selected schools.

“There are people who scored aggregate 49 but they have been given their choices and so how come my daughter did not get her school?

“Because we do not have money, our children have been displaced,” she alleged.

Madam Owusu retorted that she wanted her daughter in a more competitive school when she was referred to the self-placement system.

She appealed to the GES to educate parents to enable them make informed choices in the selection of schools for their children.

Another parent, Mr Stephen Essilfie whose two children had aggregates 27 and 39 and did not get any of their choices including Assin Manso SHS and University Practice SHS, told the GNA they could not access the self-placement system.

“We went to their Junior High School to help us out but we were not successful; that is why we are here. There is no time to waste at all,” he said.

Nana Kwamena Ansah, another aggrieved parent, was hopeful that his son who scored aggregate 43 would be able to secure a spot in a school to pursue a technical course.

His son’s original choices included Takoradi Technical Institute, Komenda SHS and Assin Manso SHS but he was not fortunate enough to get any of them.

“We have made all preparations. We are only looking for the placement,” he said.

For Agya Owusu, he was directed by an official who spoke on radio to go to the office with the assurance that his son would get a school with his aggregate 44.

He also indicated they were logistically prepared and were only waiting to be placed.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Accra, – President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has justified his Government’s implementation of the Free Senior High School (SHS) Programme.

He said the initiative was based on the experiential evidence that its implementation was feasible, as well as the huge benefits the country would derive from the policy.

Prior to the take-off of the Programme, it was estimated that each year, about 100,000 students from the Junior High School (JHS) level could not make it to SHS as a result of limited resources on the part of their parents and guardians, President Nana Akufo-Addo noted.

Interacting with students of the Wesley Girls’ SHS, Cape Coast, at the Jubilee House, in Accra, the President described the initiative as a major step by the Government to boost the country’s human resource base.

In September 2017, Ghana achieved a major milestone with the implementation of the Free SHS Programme.

The Ministry of Education (MoE) said that year, there was an 11 per cent increase in enrolment, breaking the record from previous years.

In the 2017/18 academic year, a new record was set with the highest enrolment ever seen in the country – over 470,000 students enrolled in Senior High School.

Goal Four of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) states: “By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes.”

Additionally, Article 25 1b of the 1992 Constitution states that: “Secondary education in its different forms, including technical and vocational education, shall be made generally available and accessible to all by every appropriate means, and in particular, by the progressive introduction of free education.”

According to the Ghana Education Service (GES), some 1.6 million youth have benefitted so far from the Free SHS policy.

President Nana Akufo-Addo was delighted that in spite of the teething problems the initiative faced, the Free SHS Programme had come to stay.

Education, he said, remained a core development priority of his Administration as it was the surest way to ensure a secured future for the youth.

He cited for praise the then Minister of Education, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, and his Deputy, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, for the able manner in which they executed the policy.

The Wesley Girls SHS students were at the Jubilee House on an educational tour.

President Akufo-Addo briefed the visiting students on his career development and urged them to take their studies seriously.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Tema, – The Reverend Dr Samuel Worlanyo Mensah, an Economist has predicted that the government’s Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) programme will negatively affect the culture of investment among Ghanaians in the future.

The Government has announced that it has achieved the needed target of over 80 per cent signing onto the DDEP which is aimed at meeting the International Monetary Fund (IMF) deadline.

Rev. Dr Mensah, accessing the impact of the DDEP on Ghana’s economy, told the Ghana News Agency that the programme would derail the confidence of Ghanaians to invest in government instruments due to the fear of uncertainty of future happenings.

He added that the government’s inability to honour its obligations to the bondholders would not only kill people’s interest in investment but would also affect Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), and local businesses.

According to him, with the local businesses, those who invested into bonds and have plans to use their coupons to pay workers and expand their businesses now must look for other alternatives as whether they joined the programme voluntarily or not it would still have an adverse effect on them.

“More businesses will collapse, especially when there will be no coupon rate to be paid to the bondholders, meanwhile their principal amount is also locked for a number of years,” he said.

Touching on the call of the pensioners’ bondholders for government to explicitly exempt them from the programme, he said their request was legitimate therefore government must listen to them adding that if the programme was truly voluntary why was the government not exempting them.

He said exempting the pensioners who have served the country during their working days and now rely on their bonds to survive would not affect the gains that the government said it has made in the signing on of bondholders unto the programme as its target has already been met.

Rev. Dr Mensah also called on the government to provide the public with the details of those who have purported to have signed onto the programme to enable the public and experts to cross-check on the claim, as according to him, the figures could be exaggerated.

Mr Francis Ameyibor, Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Manager called on the media and other communicators especially political party-spoke persons to be circumspect and not to inflame passion as the environment is already tense.

“Let us speak words of comfort and restore hope in the people, in a hazardous environment you don’t strike a match, the fire that you might set would consume all including you, let us work together to rebuild Ghana,” Mr Ameyibor noted.

Source: Ghana News Agency

New Tafo (E/R), – Mr. Wahab Idrisu, Headmaster of New Tafo Islamic Basic School in Abuakwa North Municipality, has appealed to organizations and individuals for assistance to repair classrooms of the school after a rainstorm ripped it off.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, he requested immediate assistance for the renovation and re-roofing of the two-classroom block damaged by the rainstorm.

He explained that on February 6, 2023, at approximately 1600 hours, a heavy rainstorm wiped off a portion of the roofing sheets of the Basic Stage I and Stage II classroom blocks.

Although some classrooms were spared and in good condition, he stated that the affected areas exposed both schoolchildren and teachers to the vagaries of the weather.

“I’ve informed the Ghana Education Service Directorate in the municipality, and a team from the Municipal National Disaster Management Organization has also visited the scene to take a preliminary assessment of the extent of damage. The school looks forward to receiving support,” Mr. Idrisu said.

The New Tafo Islamic Primary School was founded in 1967, while the Junior High School (JHS) was founded in 2005, and both had a total population of about 180.

The headteacher appealed to all and sundry to assist the school with renovation.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Accra, – Members of Parliament from both the Majority and Minority caucuses, who are members of the Old Vandals Association, Friday criticised the University of Ghana authorities for seeking to destroy the spirit, culture and tradition of the Commonwealth Hall.

Addressing journalists in Parliament, Mr Clement Apaak, the Member of Parliament for Builsa South, said: “The University was not respecting the laws of the land.”

“As alumni of Commonwealth Hall from both sides of the house, we are displeased with how the University of Ghana has gone about things. We fail to understand why the University is failing to respect the law.”

Mr Apaak, therefore, cautioned the police to be circumspect in what they do about the impasse between the Commonwealth Hall and the University authorities.

He expressed optimism that the impasse would be resolved, amicably, but that depended on the respect the University had for the rules of the land.

The University revoked the tenancy of continuing students from the Commonwealth and Sarbah halls as a punitive measure after clashes between some students of the two halls.

That led to the destruction of the bust of John Mensah Sarbah, the historical figure after whom the Sarbah Hall was named.

According to the University, all continuing students of the Commonwealth Hall, an all-male hall, and continuing male students of Mensah Sarbah Hall, will not return to their halls nor any of the traditional halls.

But the students expressed displeasure about the move, insisting that the decision was ill-intended and posed financial challenges as the new halls offered were extremely expensive.

Source: Ghana News Agency