NSS Maize To Feed Ashanti Schools

 FRONT PAGE STORY (DAILY GRAPHIC)
Story: Fauziatu Adam
The National Service Secretariat (NSS) is to sell 4,000 bags of maize at reasonable prices from its farms at Ejura in the Ashanti Region to government-assisted Senior High Schools in the region.
The move is to assist the schools to feed their students at relatively low cost during the second term which begins in January 2011.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday, the Executive Director of the NSS, Mr Vincent Kuagbenu,  said the secretariat had received a request from the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary schools (CHASS) to assist the heads to feed the students, adding that he saw that as a major boost and at the same time a big challenge to the farming component of the service scheme.
He explained that CHASS had also supported the secretariat by transporting service persons to and from the farm free of charge, hence the quick response to the request by the conference.
“Since this is in line with the government’s policy to farm to feed students, we have seriously considered the request,”  he added.
Mr Kuagbenu said currently the secretariat had harvested more than 4,000 bags of maize on its farm at Ejura, while 5,000 acres of land cultivated with maize was yet to be harvested to provide additional food supplies.
About 3,000 service persons have been recruited to work on the farms periodically.
Mr Kuagbenu expressed the hope that the secretariat would expand to the Eastern, Central and Brong Ahafo regions in the next farming season.

Muslims advised to educate their children

Story: Fauziatu Adam

The Spiritual Leader of the Tijaniyya Muslim Movement in Ghana, Sheikh Halifa Abdul Faidi, has called on parents in the Muslim communities to invest in the education  of their children since education was the key to the socio-economic development of the country.
Sheikh Faidi made this call at the launch of the birthday of Sheikh Ahmed Tijani in Accra.
He said that education was a fundamental human right which provided both the young and old the power to reflect on their lives and make better choices for their own development.
He stressed the need to invest more in education and promote the development of the country.
Sheikh Faidi further advised the youth to respect their community leaders, especially the Sheikhs.
He said the birthday celebration was  scheduled to take place from January 13 to 16, 2011. Other activities of the celebrations include honouring prominent personalities in the country, journalists, media houses and institutions that had excelled in their endeavours.

Engen Ghana introduces two fuels

Story: Fauziatu Adam


THE Engen Ghana Limited has unveiled two new different fuels in the market called the Dynamic Diesel for diesel cars and the Dynamic Unleaded for petrol cars.
The dynamic fuels improve fuel consumption system with the potential to reduce fuel consumption and ultimately increase the lifespan of the vehicles and reduce exhaust emissions.
The Managing Director of Engen Ghana Limited, Mr Henry Akwaboah, made this known at the commissioning of a new filling station at Asamankese in the Eastern Region.
Mr Akwaboah said the company’s quest was to offer its customers value for their money and meet their challenging needs.
“We pride ourselves with service dynamism, service quality, value for money, good customer service and above all, the highest standards in health, safety and high quality product,” he added.
He assured the people of Asamankese of their value for money, cleaner fuel and above all environmentally friendly products.
Mr Akwaboah advised the workers  of the station to be proactive in all their services and  to give their customers value for their money.
The District Chief Executive of Asamankese, Mr Seth Okyere, on behalf of the people of the area, expressed appreciation  for the company for making the project a reality.
He cautioned filling station personnel not to favour commercial vehicles against private vehicles as that practice had the tendency to collapse the business.
He further advised the workers to desist from defrauding customers by short-changing them.
Mr Okyere also caution drivers to drive carefully to reduce road fatalities.
The filling station is equipped with modern filling pumps, a shopping centre, 15 guest rooms and a mini bar to entertain visitors who come on visit.

Atlas Copco workers educated on HIV/AIDS

 Story: Fauziatu Adam

The Managing Director of Atlas Copco Ghana, Mr   George Apostopoulos, has called for collective measures to fight the menace of HIV/AIDS in the country.
He added that HIV/AIDS is very high in Africa and it needed a strong and united people to be able to reduce the menace in Ghana and Africa as a whole.
Mr Apostopoulos said this at the launch of a workplace HIV/AIDS policy with the aim of promoting the health needs of the staff the company.
He added that HIV/AIDS was a sensitive issue in the world  and, therefore “ very necessary as a company to initiate this move.
“ We are very committed to making sure that our workers live and work in a healthy environment to make productivity effective”  he added.
He explained that the aim of this policy was to limit the spread of HIV/AIDs amongst workers and support employees that are infected thereby creating a conducive environment for them.
The Director of Ghana Business Coalition (GBC) Against HIV/AIDS,  urged other businesses especially medium and small enterprises to approach the coalition for technical assistance to make their workplace safe and healthy for their workers adding that “ only 40 companies have responded to their call since 2003”.
An Executive Council member of GBC Against HIV/AIDS, Mr Alex Bamfo, said the coalition has initiated steps to broaden its scope to include malaria in its promotion programme because of the alarming rate of the disease in the country.
“ Twenty-two percent of death in the country currentlyis as result of malaria which  also leads to bigger loss of productivity in the country,” he stressed.

ABANTU launches 10th anniversary

 Story: Fauziatu Adam

ABANTU for Development has launched its 10th anniversary with the aim of institutionalising its mentoring programme for the youth.
The programme is to empower the youth, especially women, to get involved in political and leadership programmes and to introduce an exchange programme for the youth.
The director of ABANTU, Dr Rose Mensah-Kutin, said that the major concern of the organisation was to achieve gender equality in the country. She said the organisation aimed at prioritising issues related to women’s empowerment through participation in decision making at all levels as a means to promoting women’s right and gender equality in the country.
Dr Mensah-Kutin said ABANTU was a non partisan organisation that trained women for leadership positions, and expressed her appreciation to the media for their consistent commitment to promoting those objectives.
A gender activist, Mrs Rosaline Obeng-Ofori, called on the organisation to initiate Affirmative Action Policy and other policies to encourage women’s participation in politics and the assumption of leadership roles to enable them to make meaningful contributions to the decision-making process.
Other activities lined up for the celebration include the publication of a booklet on the contributions, challenges and prospects of the organisation, a video on Abantu, a photo slide show, an awards ceremony and a seminar to climax the celebration. 

Support women to vie for political positions - WABA

THE President of the Women’s Assistance and Business Association (WABA), a non governmental organisation, Mrs Gloria Ofori-Boadu has stressed the need for governmental and non-governmental organisations to strongly support, and advocate for measures to improve women’s participation in governance.
 She said since women constituted more than 50 per cent of Ghana’s population, it was necessary to encourage more women to vie for political positions in the country, especially at the district assembly level, where the assemblies have the mandate to initiate projects and programmes for the  development of the district.
Mrs Ofori-Boadu said the 1992 Constitution provided for the major functions of the assembly and that included the formulation and execution of plans, programmes and strategies for the effective mobilisation of the resources necessary for the overall development of the district, such as levying and collection of taxes, rates, duties and fees.
Addressing a workshop organised by the Institute of Democracy and Human rights Education of WABA, she said it was a fact that the major reliable and highest source of revenue for internally generated funds of the assemblies were the markets which was an area dominated by women.
She said, for this reason, women played a critical role in executing the functions of the district assemblies, which was to mobilise resources for the overall development of the districts, since the market was dominated by women, who had been socialised to work there as part of their daily chores.
Mrs Ofori-Boadu said it then made sense that Ghana needed to take extra and specific steps to involve women in the district assemblies, since they constituted over 80 per cent of people operating in the informal sector of the economy, which was a major source of income generation in the country.
She said “we are therefore calling for new constitutional provisions that will provide specifically for the nomination, election and appointment of 50 per cent men and 50 per cent women to all nominated, appointed and elected positions to the metropolitan, municipal, district assemblies and their sub-structure, that is the Unit Committees.”
The workshop was aimed at building the capacity of aspiring members of district assemblies through mentoring by other women who had been to the assemblies. It further sought to strongly advocate for specific constitutional provisions to increase women’s participation in political activities in the country.

Bridge the communication gap through education

By Fauziatu Adam

In today’s world of astonishing advancement in Information Communication Technology (ICT), many countries have put in measures to ensure that they take advantage of the opportunity ICT brings for the benefit of their citizens.
 In the United States for instance, an astounding 76 per cent of the population have access to the Internet. In Japan, 86 per cent of the population have access to the Internet.
In Ghana however, only a few people have access to the Internet.Ghana still has a long way to go with regards to becoming an information society.
For Ghana to move rapidly towards being an information society,it should have a society characterised by a high level of information intensity in the everyday life of most citizens in most organisations and work places. They must  use  common or compatible technology for a wide range of personal, social, educational, and business activities, and have  the ability to transmit, receive and exchange digital data rapidly between places irrespective of distance. There is therefore,the need to critically examine the following factors.
 With an illiteracy rate of 31 per cent, according to the Ghana Statistical service, there are numerous Ghanaians who are not educated and it is imperative that the government makes the effort to change that situation.
The basic problems facing the development of Education in Ghana are poverty and inadequate educational facilities and equipment.
Poverty
Due to socio-economic difficulties, many parents cannot afford to send their children to school. Though the government’s Free Compulsory Basic Education (FCBE) makes education in public basic schools free, parents are still obliged to buy school uniforms, books and other educational materials for their children. Many parents cannot afford to do even this; so we have many children hawking in the streets or learning trades instead of acquiring education.
Inadequate Educational Facilities and Infrastructure
There are places in Ghana where people do not have access to schools. In places where there are schools, there is the everlasting problem of inadequate infrastructure.
 It is common therefore, to find students learning under trees and canopies and in open space  exposed to rain and sunshine.
Many of our schools lack other basic imperatives for quality education such as competent and motivated teachers and educational facilities such as textbooks and computers.
 As a result of all these, many students end up lacking quality education.
Needless to say, one needs to have some form of education  to be able to critically and coherently analyse information.
An educated person possesses the intelligence to make rational inferences and deductions from the information they acquire.
The US, Japan, England and other countries have attained the status of an  information society status  because the majority of their citizens are educated.
 If education is not prioritised in Ghana, the country will continue to move towards becoming  an information society but at a slow pace.
Solutions
The government therefore, should take proactive measures to build schools in deprived areas of the country.
 In places where there are schools, the government should ensure that those schools are provided with adequate educational facilities and equipment. Situations where students learn under trees and canopies are unacceptable because such an environment is not conducive for effective teaching and  learning.
The government should find ways of motivating teachers to encourage them to offer their best. Those teaching in deprived areas should be given special incentives to encourage them. This will prevent a situation where teachers refuse postings to deprived areas.
Though the government deserves commendation for making education free and compulsory, a lot still has to be done.
 Many parents prefer sending their children to the streets to sell instead of sending them to school to acquire education. The government should therefore, go the extra mile by prosecuting parents who refuse to send their children to school.
Finally, the government should provide I.C.T equipment  for our schools so that by the time children grow up, they would know certain basic things about the computer and information communication technology.

GTUC, Conventry University to collaborate -To introduce post graduate programmes

Story: Fauziatu Adam
The Ghana Telecom University College (GTUC) is to introduce 14 new post-graduate programmes under a joint programme with Conventry University of the United Kingdom next academic year.
    The programmes include Masters of Business Administration (MBA) Information studies, MBA Logistics, MBA Finance, MBA Oil and Gas Management.
    Others include Master of Science (MSc) in Forensic Computing, Network Computing, Software Development, Microelectronics and Wireless Systems, Engineering Project Management and Msc Logistics.
    The rest are Msc Information Technology for Management, Business Decision Management, Management Information Systems and Oil and Gas Management.
    Students pursuing any of these programmes would be awarded with a Conventry University degree.
    The President of the university, Dr Osei Darkwa, announced this at the first congregation ceremony of the university  in Accra.
    He added that the university had earlier this year  introduced two new doctoral programmes (PhD)  in Information Communication Technology (ICT) and Technology Engineering to enhance the range of programmes offered in the institute.
    This, he said, was a collaborative venture between the university and Aalborg University in Denmark.
    “Consistent with global trends in higher education, we are expanding the use of technology to create a “ Virtual GTUC’ network of faculty, students, alumni and friends to encourage life-long relationships among the growing GTUC community” he said.
    He mentioned that the university’s core research activities address issues in areas such as Internet fraud, youth capacity building through ICT, mobile health, virtual labs, virtual education, as well as virtual institution building.
    He expressed his appreciation to the pioneering students and their parents for their support.
    In a speech read on his behalf, the Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tetey Enyo, assured that the government would make significant budgetary allocation to education at all levels, especially the tertiary level.
    “Polytechnics, universities and other tertiary institutions would be adequately resourced to play more meaningful roles in the growth and development of the country, especially now that Ghana joins the elite group of oil producing countries” he added.
    He added that the government would pay particular attention to the improvement of the quality of teaching and learning and enhance the capacity of teachers through constant programmes to upgrade themselves.
    In all, 172 students graduated from the university. Anthony Ntem and Audrey Nadia Nwayombeth Dossah were honoured with the Best Bachelor of Science Degree in Telecom, while Isaac Otoo-Siaw and Alida Simpore emerged as the best students in Bachelor of Science and Information Technology respectively.
 In a related development, the Ghana Telecom University College (GTUC) has introduced an  Internet laboratory (Ilab) training programme to enable institutions share physical laboratories via the Internet.
The project has the potential of opening doors for collaborative research with other institutions to promote a shift from theoretical learning to practical learning.
It is also cost effective and reliable for institutions to share laboratories and laboratory equipment via the Internet.
In a speech read on his behalf, the Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tetey-Enyo, said the new technology, which was a collaborative effort between the GTUC and the ministry, was aimed at stimulating the production and application of new ideas that would form the basis of economic development.
He added the ministry among its objectives, aims at providing relevant education to Ghanaians at all levels to enable them acquire skills that would assist them in developing their potential in support of the national poverty reduction programmes and promote socio-economic growth.
He expressed the ministry’s commitment to support the development of the Ilab at the GTUC and other tertiary institutions by providing facilities and resources for the effective training of students.
The opening session of the programme brought together different students from tertiary institutions in the country, including Accra Polytechnic, Regent University, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Koforidua Polytechnic, Ho Polytechnic and the Ghana Telecom University College.