17: Ghanaian Education Weekly Review (12/5 – 12/12)

MoE inaugurates technical universities

On Monday the Ministry of Education (MoE) held an official inauguration ceremony for eight technical universities—Accra Technical University, Koforidua Technical University, Sunyani, Technical University, Cape Coast Technical University, Takoradi Technical University, Kumasi Technical University, and Tamale Technical University. The MoE ceremony makes good on a declaration made by President John Mahama in his 2013 State of the Nations Address. Mahama made known the government’s intention to convert polytechnics into technical universities. Minister of Education, Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang hopes this will help the newly branded technical universities make the most of recent initiatives. “The absence of a clear transformation strategy was one of the significant flaws of the upgrading process and the ramification of this is still evident in the polytechnic system,” she said at the ceremony.

WACCI complimented on food security work

The government has recognized University of Ghana’s West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI) for its work in enhancing food security in Ghana. Specifically, Mona Quartey, a Deputy Minster of Finace, applauded WACCI for its training of plant breeders. And all signs point to continued excellence out of WACCI: it has a $2.4 building in the works that will allow the scaling up of its PhD program in Plant breeding and will house, among other things, a bioinformatics platform, a seed science laboratory, and a tissue culture laboratory.

Early education is improving

A consulting firm in the Bongo District of the Upper East Region reported that the quality of education at the pre-school level has improved significantly. Accordingly, the Ghana Education Service (GES) is being praised for its implementation of the Ghana Partnership for Education Grant Project (GPEG) in several deprived districts. Among the reported findings were better teachers and more literate and mathematically-competent kindergarteners.

Also…

The University of Education, Winneba (UEW) introduced new programs at the undergraduate and graduate level, several of which stand at the intersection of education and technology.

The Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) and the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) have commissioned a project to build a six-unit classroom block for the Maakro Junior High Schoool.

Alex Kyeremeh, the Deputy Minister of Education in charge of pre-tertiary education and the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) in Jaman North, lost his reelection campaign.

Heartwarming story about a UK couple who has sponsored eight Ghanaian children throughout their education careers.

The Jonathan Mensah Foundation (JOMENS) has helped out by donating food and other products to the Dzorwulu special school.

A write-up on SOS Children’s Villages, which support children without parental care—an unfortunate circumstance that can derail a child’s education future.

Not directly related to education, but here is a little profile on Ghana’s newly elected president, Nana Akufo-Addo.