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GES Director-General pleads with officials to be more careful
At the 23rd annual Conference of Directors of Education (CODE), the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Jacob Kor, did his best to make it clear that the GES will no longer tolerate director negligence. In the past, a significant number of officials have failed to follow due process in disciplinary decisions, subjecting the GES to several retaliatory lawsuits. For example, Mr. Kor was particularly outraged by a case in which a District Director made the decision to unilaterally dismiss a teacher. In the case, the court ruled in favor of the plaintiff and mandated the GES pay a judgment debt of Gh¢156,000. Mr. Kor concluded his speech by appealing to all in attendance to be more careful in the future.
Speaking of teacher firings…
In response to reports on social media sites that around 4,000 teacher layoffs were to take place, the GES clarified that “there is no iota of truth in that information.” The initial reports suggest that the layoffs would occur in order to comply with certain IMF government spending policies that go into effect in 2017. However, the Public Relation Officer for the GES said the “service has no problems with its teachers for now…the payment of teachers’ salaries, [and] arrears is going on smoothly.”
Samsung initiative aimed at digital inclusion for schools
Samsung’s West Africa operation, in partnership with the Ministry of Education (MOE), launched a Smart School for Teachers on Tuesday in Bole (Northern Region) and Komenda-Eguafo (Central Region). The program incorporates digital content, effectively “killing two birds with one stone” by better preparing teachers and by increasing the teachers’ technological abilities. The teachers will be trained to use the technology to do a variety of things, including sharing digital content with students and monitoring their progress. The Managing Director of Samsung Electronics, Ghana voiced the company’s belief that “it is essential to equip teachers with basic computer literacy, as well as the tools they need to use ICTs for curriculum development and more impactful teaching.” Training for the Smart School got underway on Wednesday, and it was expected that 70 teachers would participate. The Samsung Smart School initiative has already been established in Nigeria, South Africa, Togo, Senegal, and Rwanda.
A more defensive use of technology
Two non-profits—SAVE-Ghana and Making All Voices Count—have teamed up with the GES to launch an online system addressing teacher absenteeism. The technology will be used to track teacher attendance at 88 basic schools in the Upper West Region. The focus of the application is to increase communication between school governance structures: the 11 district education offices and the 88 basic schools will be provided with computers and Android devices, which teachers will use to log in and out of school each day. Essentially, the project allows increased information flow surrounding teacher timecards. If this sounds trivial, consider that teacher absenteeism and teacher indiscipline are often considered the greatest challenges affecting education performance in the Upper West Region.
GES establishing a database on NGOs
In addition to his remarks on director negligence at CODE, Mr. Kor has called for the creation of a new database to keep tabs on the NGOs operating in the education system. As there has been a large influx of NGOs operating in the space, Kor claims that close monitoring of their activities is necessary. Doing so would help sort out the good, the bad, and the fraudulent.
Tip of the hat to Prudential
Prudential’s Ghana unit has contributed over half a million dollars into a scholarship fund that will be implemented by Plan International Ghana. Emmanuel Motobi Aryee, CEO of Prudential Life Insurance Ghana, has said that the five-year project seeks to provide support to “555 brilliant but needy young girls and boys.” The money will be directed at the Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Central, Easter, Greater Accra, Volta, and Western Regions of the country. Despite only launching in the Ghanaian market in March of 2014, Prudential has really made an effort to support Ghanaian education. Mr. Aryee told the Ghana News Agency that Prudential Life Insurance Ghana is already supporting 240 girls and 160 boys through high school. Additionally, Mr. Aryee mentioned Prudential’s role in the Cha Ching program, designed to develop financially literate Ghanaian students.
Troubling treatment of Cerebral Palsy children
At an Orthopedic Training Centre (OTC) workshop for parents and caregivers of Cerebral Palsy children, Gloria Gyamea, a physiotherapist at OTC, criticized the GES’s treatment of children with Cerebral Palsy. She claims to have a list of over 250 parents of children with Cerebral Palsy whose sons or daughters have been refused admission at pre-schools “simply because they have Cerebral Palsy. Hannah Awadzi, the founder of the Special Mothers Project, supported Gyamea’s claims: “I have seen a lot of mothers who say their children with cerebral palsy are intellectually capable but they are kept home because the schools won’t accept them.” Both women called on the GES to start being more proactive on this issue, iterating the point that launching the Inclusive Education Policy has done nothing.
Initiative aimed at environmental sanitation awareness
The Zoomlion Foundation collaborated with the MOE to organize the National Quiz Competition, an event in all 10 regions of Ghana that hopes to raise the level of environmental sanitation awareness among school children. A class from Nav-West Basic School at Old Seko in the Western Region won the competition and was compensated with an all-expense paid trip to Dubai. The purpose of the trip to Dubai is to show children the benefits of having a clean city in hopes of inspiring increased efforts towards the cause of environmental cleanliness. Consolation cash prizes were given to multiple other participants.
Also happening…
A Deputy Minster at the MOE announced that the government will recruit 2,300 teachers for the newly constructed community day schools.
The National Council of Parent-Teacher Association has called for the duration of SHS to switch back to the 4 year program.
School Specialty has teamed up with the Gloria Pointer Foundation to provide students in Ghana with supplies, including everything from pens and pencils to science materials and physical education equipment.