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Uninspiring report
The 2016 Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report has revealed that there is much room for improvement in Ghana’s education system. The report stated that just 53 percent of Ghanaian students are able to complete Junior High School (JHS), and only 39 percent are capable of completing Senior High School (SHS). The report was launched by the Ministry of Education (MOE). The findings were made public at an event on November 17th, and the Minister of Education, Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, was there to help alleviate concerns. Opoku-Agyemang highlighted that a national action plan for implementing the 2030 agenda was already in place and that the government had put in place policies and programs to help improve education quality. The report also emphasized the education gender gap in Ghana: 63 percent of female adults are illiterate, and statistics confirm that a larger portion of illiterate youths are female. A silver lining was that Ghana has made a solid effort to fund education, spending six percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) annually.
Not ready for compulsory Arabic
Last week, we mentioned Ghana Education Service (GES) comments about making Arabic a compulsory subject. This week, the President of IMANI Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe, has said that Ghana lacks the infrastructure to implement such a curriculum. Further, Cudjoe hoped that the government would accept that the infrastructure isn’t there yet instead of rushing to implement what’s not ready to be implemented.
The unpaid are unhappy
The Coalition of Unpaid Teachers (CUT) issued a statement November 15th demanding that the government pays them their salaries. Almost unbelievably, there are teachers who were recruited by the GES in 2012 who have yet to receive their salaries. The group stated that all the necessary documentation had been sent to the GES headquarters in Accra, and they believe that their lack of payment is the result of sloppy work on behalf of the audit team exercise carried out in November and December of 2015. Also, the release was sure to mention that the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers, and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana have all remained silent about this abuse by the government.
Rastafarians to sue GES
The Rastafarians Council of Ghana has threatened to sue the GES and the Mfantsiman Girls’ High School over claims that Rastafarians have been refused admission because of their dreadlocks. The GES doesn’t deny it, either. A GES Public Relations Officer, Jonathan Betty, said that the dreadlocks hairstyle violates the code of conduct of the public schools. Naturally, the Rastafarians Council of Ghana deems the rule to be in violation of fundamental rights.
Also…
USAID donates disability equipment to the Ishadia Kindergarten and Primary School in the Northern Region.
The 10th Further and Higher Education Conference occurred this week in Accra.
Ghana has provided the Association of African Universities (AAU) with a two-story Secretariat building, much to their delight.
GES Public Relations Officer, Anthony Kwaku, is urging teachers to be morally upright.
Nice story about a blind UG student.