Destruction of the environment in the Upper East Region could be summed up as callous, wicked and selfish.

Widespread bush burning and logging, otherwise known as chainsaw operation, is depleting the environment in the region, worsening the already erratic rainfall pattern and destroying arable lands.

The phenomena is leading to abysmal poverty, hunger, malnutrition and unemployment, compelling the youth, mostly young girls to migrate to the southern sector of the country for non-existent jobs.

Economic trees such as Shea nut and teak are burnt down by bushfires leading to loss of resources valuable in local communities.

Large scale and indiscriminate logging activities are taking place by highly place persons in the society at Talensi, Builsa north and south leading to the depletion of large span of forest reserves.

The excessive heat the area had experienced for the past 10 years had led to the incidence of Cerebral-Spinal Meningitis, CSM.

Expert say degradation of environment contributes to climate change, which has adverse effect on human and animal health, social integration as well as the economic well-being of the people.

It is against this bottleneck that the Presbyterian Agriculture Satiation in Garu, in collaboration with Oxfam-Ghana is running a climate change project for three years.

The projects seeks to achieve four main objectives look at access, climate change and its impact, sensitizing farmers and building the capacity of farmers on new agronomic practices.

The Project Manager of the Presbyterian Agriculture Satiation in Garu, Obed Asunka, said climate change has come to stay, hence the need to put in place measures to mitigate the impact of climate change.

This came to light at the World Teachers day celebration in Zebila.

He said currently the project is embarking on an activity call one man one tree, saying the move has help reduce the level of indiscriminate cutting of trees in the area.

Mr. Asunka said they have also developed an energy conserving stoves and they have trained women and they are going round the communities to build the stoves to help minimize the level of indiscriminate cutting of trees.

The project is also assisting women in the area bee-keeping, soap making, dry season gardening, livestock rearing among others which will go a long way to minimize climate change.

Mr. Asunka appealed to research centres in the country to come out with new varieties that can be drought resistant, flood resistant and early maturing varieties.

He therefore appealed to the Ghana Education Service to factor in climate change activities in all their programs.

GBC

The Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) started in 2005, though, has been subjected to series of review based on the concerns of parents, stakeholders and the general public.

As part of the measures to ensure a smooth placement of qualified BECE candidates, Ghana Education Service (GES) usually putsmeasures in place to forestall challenges that might emanate from the exercise.

Policy guidelines of CSSPS

The CSSPS has a set of guidelines for selecting and placing qualified candidates, including the use of raw scores of candidates and placing candidates using their performance in six subjects.

Using raw scores and placing candidates with six subjects

The CSSPS uses the total raw scores of six subjects (and not grades) of candidates for the selection process. The six subjects which are picked during the selection process are English Language, Mathematics, Integrated Science, Social Studies plus two other best subjects.

In case of any issue of non-placement after the forth choice of schools, the affected candidates are identified with the CSSPS Secretariat treating them as special cases and having them processed into a special supplementary list.

Selecting and placing candidates in schools

Prior to selecting the schools and programmes of study, parents and guardians are advised to first consider choosing day schools which are not too far from their homes.Placing candidates in schools with limited boarding facilities and programmes on offer has been highly competitive as the Secretariat usually considers placing candidates from within their first-four choices of schools.

Conditions for selecting candidates

Candidates, with the support of parents and school authorities, are supposed to choose four schools, select their programmes of study and/or accommodation, choose only one school from the option one of listed schools and two schools from option 2, and then select all of their schools from option 3.

Candidates, who desire to offer purely technical programmes, may select all of their four schools from option four with those opting for courses in private schools choosing their four schools from the options of private schools. Candidates are expected to arrange their chosen schools in order of preference regardless of which categories they belong to.

Re-entry admissions

Qualified candidates, who were unable to enter school or deferred their admissions to schools within a spate of three years,are eligible to apply as re-entry candidates for selection and placement in a particular year.

Application forms for this category of candidates are normally printed and sold in April of each year with the deadline for receiving the applications being the end of July of same year.Candidates will have to submit their filled forms to the Secondary Education Division of GES at the Headquarters in Accra with photocopies of their certificates attached.

Requirements and procedure for admitting foreign candidates

Foreign candidates are either not Ghanaian citizens, Ghanaian citizens living in foreign countries or children of Ghanaian citizens in foreign missions (i.e. Embassies and consulates) who seek admission to enter or to have their wards entersenior high, technical and vocational schools in the country.

The forms of foreign candidates are printed and sold in January of each year with the submission of applications ending in July ofthe same year.Candidates attach records of their academic performance and testimonials from their previous schools and add relevant photocopied pages of their passports, indicating their bio-data, visas, and their departure and arrival pages, to the completed forms for submission to the Secondary Education Division of GES through the following address: P. O. Box M 45, Accra.

All foreign students are made to write an aptitude test, which is conducted by the CSSPS of the Secondary Education Service of GES, before being considered for placement.

How to know your placement

Placement results are released to mobile telecommunication companies, including MTN, Vodafone, Tigo and Airtel, for candidates to access. To check the placement results, candidates must text their index numbers plus the years of completion of their BECE to special codes, which are issued by the companies (e.g. 020101900116 with the last two digits of the year of BECE completion, say 16 for 2016).

Qualified candidates buy scratch cards from accredited firms, such as the Apex Bank (i.e. all rural banks), SIC Financial Services Limited, Unibank and Agricultural Development Bank. They then use the internet to print the placement formsand submit them to their placedschools.

What is my role in CSSPS?

Let us take key interest in our wards’ education, including helping them to select their schools and programmes of study, pay for their school fees and to accept schools that the CSSPS places them.

As teachers, counsellors and school authorities help to provide good environment for teaching and learning, parents and other members of the general public should also continue to support our children to make choices for schools and programmes of study for better future.

Students can login HERE to print their forms.

Source:EducationGhana.net

Newly Posted Teachers by the Ghana Education Service are currently being frustrated by the education offices with regards to their postings in most parts of the Volta region with Ho west district recording highest cases.

According to sources,most of the newly posted teachers who were instructed by the Ghana Education Service to print their Appointment letters online and submit them to their various district ,municipal and metropolitan Education offices were given different directions by their Education offices which were not in line with what the Ghana Education service earlier instructed.

Some of the Teachers were given different schools instead of the supposed schools given by the Ghana Education Service.

The problem has frustrated the newly posted teachers because the Ghana Education service has ordered that any Appointment letter issued apart from that of the GES online Appointment letters should be considered not valid .

Source :EducationGhana.net

Many employees were been deleted from the payroll of the Controller and Accountant General’s Department due to the  inability of their SSNIT numbers appearing on their pay slips.

You can follow the steps below to add your SSNIT numbers on to your pay slips.

1. Go to gogpayslip.com
2. Type in your staff ID and password and system generated code to sign in
3. Double click on ‘Send Feedback ‘
4. Look at ‘Enter Subject ‘ and Click on the drop down arrow
5. Scroll through to find “My SSNIT number does not appear on my payslip”
6. Select it,type in your SSNIT number and click on ‘send’ in order to send the feedback.

Source:EducationGhana.net

Students of the University of Ghana on Saturday morning engaged in fights amidst throw of stones and burning of cars during the matriculation of fresh students.The clash was between members of two halls of the University, Commonwealth hall and Mensah-Sarbah hall.

Sources at the Scene disclosed that the clashes began when a member of Mensah-Sarbah was attacked by Commonwealth members,an incident which led to a retaliatory reaction from the Mensah-Sarbah students.Commonwealth is accusing Sarbah of inviting ‘Katangas’ to reinforce their base in anticipation of a clash.”

The commonwealth hall camp were clad in red while their arch rivals  sarbah hall were clad in black.The two camps fired musketry amid chanting war songs. They also wielded broken seats, stones,stabs.It took the intervention of the police and fire service personnel to calm tensions.

Source:EducationGhana.net

The Teachers’ Fund (TF) of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) is expected to grow its assets to about GHȼ1 billion, by January, next year.

The Fund’s assets as of September stood at GHȼ750 million, compared with the previous year’s same period total of GHȼ235 million.

Mr. George Asare Yamoah, the Board Chairman, who announced this said it would continue to go into strategic and prudent investment to increase its assets to bring substantial benefits to contributors during retirement.

Contributions of the 196,234 members totaled GH¢314, 720, 382.00, at the close of September.

He was speaking at a ceremony held to honour five retired members, who had made additional contributions, aside the mandatory deductions, to increase their pension benefits.

They are Charles Yaw Asuah, Stephen Mensah, Joseph K. Asare, John Gyima Amamoo and Margeret Agyeman.

Each contributed almost GH¢20,000 during their working years and they received benefits ranging between GH¢31,000 to GH¢50,000.

The Association gave to every one of them a full piece of cloth and unspecified amount of cash.

The Teachers’ Fund, is an investment scheme where members of GNAT make  mandatory monthly contributions  to sustain.

They pay a minimum of GH¢30 a month and could opt to make additional contribution to enhance their retirement benefits.

The Board Chairman said the fund had granted GH¢300 million in loans to the members, with the return on investment put at 105 per cent.

Mr. David Ofori Acheampong, General Secretary of GNAT, hailed past leaders of the association for their vision in establishing the fund and said the benefits had been tremendous.

Madam Philipa Larsen, GNAT’s acting President, reminded teachers, who would be engaged by the Electoral Commission (EC) to perform any duty in the coming election to be diligent and demonstrate high level of integrity to ensure free, fair and credible polls, the outcome of which would be acceptable to all.

GNA

The New Patriotic Party said it will restore teacher trainees as well as trainee nurses allowances immediately it is voted into power in the December 7 general elections.

The party’s 2016 presidential candidate,Nana Akuffo Addo made this statement during the Launch of the party’s manifesto ahead of the elections.

The flag bearer however did not state clearly whether the restoration of the allowance for teacher trainees will lead to the re-introduction of the quota system,which made it not possible to admit students above a certain limit in all Government Colleges of Education.

His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, President of the Republic of Ghana and Presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress cancelled the Teacher trainees allowances,a situation he described as ‘swapping ‘to make way for more students to be admitted into the Colleges of Education.The President however maintained,that the students will be fed and will be given access to student loans.

But the Teacher Trainees Association of Ghana was against the decision to swathe allowances.The National Union of Ghana Students also sided with TTAG to ‘fight’ for the restoration of their allowances.

The nurses allowances was restored after a committee set up by the President made it clear that the nurses were not given loans and so should be given allowances until they are being placed on the students loan scheme.

Source:EducationGhana.net

The running mate of the New Patriotic Party, (NPP) Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia outlining his party’s manifesto, today said the recent U-turn by President John Dramani Mahama on the restoration of Nurses and Teacher trainee allowances is a “pure political gimmick” that must be dismissed by Ghanaians.

Dr. Bawumia said President Mahama’s recent statement on the allowances is to win votes in the upcoming elections.

He said NPP under an Akufo-Addo government will fully restore all nurses and teacher trainee allowances.

“Nana Akufo-Addo has given his commitment to restore teacher and nursing training allowances fully. Mahama’s U-turn on allowances is a purely election year gimmick and must be dismissed with the contempt. He said.

President Mahama recently announced that new trainee nurses who are yet to be put on the students loan scheme will also be put on the cancelled nurses allowance scheme.

According to him, the technical committee which advised the government on the allowance scheme has suggested the placement of the trainees on allowance instead of a loan scheme.

“The committee recommended that since we are yet to amend the law to put our nursing and midwifery students on the students loan scheme, we should also put them on the allowance,” Mr. Mahama announced.

The allowances were withdrawn a few years back after government complained they limited intake by nursing training institutions.

It was further argued that it was unfair for nursing and teacher trainees to receive allowances when other tertiary students didn’t enjoy same.

Since the withdrawal, the government has been praising itself for taking a prudent decision which resulted in an exponential growth in enrolment figures at nursing and teacher training schools across the country, thereby expanding access to nursing and teacher training.

President Mahama recently tweeted that “on the matter of trainee teacher allowances, better to lose on principle than win using falsehood. We’ll not reverse the decision.”

But Dr. Bawumia said the statement is a “pure political gimmick” which must be dismissed by Ghanaians.

GBC

The Progressive Peoples’ Party (PPP) says it will implement a free education policy from kindergarten to Senior High School (SHS) if Ghanaians give the party their mandate in December.

Speaking at separate rallies in four constituencies as part of his one-day tour of the Upper West region, the party’s flag bearer, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom said access and affordability of education at those levels will not be a problem under his government.

The campaign took him to Nandom, Wa East, Wa Central and Wa West constituencies of the region.

Dr Nduom said Ghanaians should not be swayed by the sweet promises of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

The flagbearer of the PPP, said lack of jobs is one of the major challenges of the youth. He gave the assurance that, the PPP is in a position to create jobs better than any other political party.

The PPP flagbearer later introduced all four parliamentary candidates to the electorate, where the candidates promised to bring key developments to their constituencies should they get the nod.

Bissa Development Association delivers 256 dual desks to Kulungungu Basic Schools

The Bissa Development Association (BDA) has constructed and handed over 256 dual desks to the Kulungungu Basic Schools in the Upper East Region at a cost of GHC 25,600.

Speaking to GBC’s Radio Ghana, the Chairman of the Education Sub-Committee of the Association, Azumah Sumaila said the gesture is to boost teaching and learning, as well as provide a conducive atmosphere to ensure that pupils and students stay in class.

Mr. Sumaila also commended the people of the region, especially, the people of Bawku and its environs for embracing peace as Ghana goes to the polls.

He said peace is a vehicle needed for national development.

GBC

Barring any hitches, the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) and partners will by next academic year introduce a new curriculum for teacher training.

This is to ensure the same standards in all of Ghana’s Colleges of Education.

Speaking at the third National Teacher Education curriculum forum in Accra, the Programmes Manager of T-TEL, Akwasi Addae Boahene, said gaps in the curriculum requires the review to ensure that a framework that conforms to the educational vision of the country, is in place.

The Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences are calling on government to devote two percent of the country’s GDP to science and research.

According to the academy the changing pattern of diseases in Africa means that much resources be devoted to the sciences to find solution to this changing trends.

A senior fellow of the Academy pro pf Isabella Quaye made the call at the launch of a health booklet on the Changing Disease Patterns in Africa.

Prof. Quaye said research should generate evidence to inform policymaking and provide new tools to control disease and to support program implementation.

Many Students across the country wanted to get out of the Universities or Colleges as well as Polytechnics gainfully employed,without actually going through the necessary orientation on the courses they choose to sturdy at their various Institutions.

This article features only Students reading Basic Education at the Colleges of Education and the Universities to obtain their respective diplomas.

It is also not meant to speak ill about any institution in Ghana but to help bring prospective students’ attention to certain issues of relevance to them when deciding on their academic future.

Colleges of Education

The Colleges of Education,formally called the Teacher Training Colleges until 2004/05 academic year were awarding certificates to their students and was referred to as Post secondary until the introduction of the Diploma In Basic Education.

The Introduction of The diploma also lead to the change of its status from post secondary to Colleges of Education and were considered as Tertiary institutions.

A situation that led to the ‘swapping ‘ of its allowance system for the students loan was meant to stop the quota system which prevented qualified students from being admitted into the various Colleges.

Until October 2016,the tutors at the Colleges were still under the Ghana Education service but attained Tertiary status after agitation from the teachers.

The Colleges of Education were built with the purpose of training more teachers to take up teaching positions in the public Basic Schools. For this reason its products(teachers) are being posted directly after College by the Ghana Education Service without waiting for application from the newly trained teachers.

This relieved the trainees from all the stress of writing applications which may or may not be considered.

The Universities

The University is a higher Educational Institution where Basic Education is also studied.At the University,the Students also go through the same three year course to obtain their Diplomas in Basic Education.They take loans but are not given feeding grant.

The students after Completion needed to apply for the job,which is already given to Trainees from Colleges automatically after College.

The main reason why students from the University are not being posted is that the Universities are autonomous and will not work with Ghana Education Service which is a perceived political institution under the Education Ministry.

The Universities felt that the GES is for Pre -tertiary institutions and so could not work in line with their procedures.

Until, the GES works  with the Universities to begin posting DBE students,the unemployment rate will continue to be a ‘sweet’ political talk of politicians which will yield no result.

By: Ellis Ferdinand Founder/Education Awards Ghana Blogger /EducationGhana.net

Source:EducationGhana.net

The Ghana Education Service has reminded teachers about the teaching service rule on partisan politics.

The Director General Mr. Jacob M.A. Kor, has therefore directed any such individual who want to engage in politics to apply for a leave of absence to avoid conflict of interest.

He said refusal to do so will attract sanctions.

Mr. Kor asked Headmasters, District and Regional Directors of Education to ensure that the directive is strictly adhered to.

The Director General was speaking at a new conference in Accra.

Mr. Kor noted that it has come to the notice of the service that some public servants, especially teachers contested in the primaries on the tickets of political parties.

He said the action is in contravention of Article 284 of the 1992 constitution.

He called on all governing boards and councils to draw the attention of Teachers and Staff in their organisations to the consequences of their action.

Mr. Kor noted that engaging in partisan politics while still at post and doing politics side by side with classroom teaching will deny the students enough contact hours for learning instructions.

The Ghana Education Service has announced that interview for promotion to Assistant Director II, Assistant Director I and Deputy Director for all teachers who were shortlisted will start from the 25th of October, 2016.

Speaking at a news conference the Director General of GES, Jacob Kor said 620 personnel will be engaged in the promotion exercise.

Mr. Kor said the list and letters for applicants have been dispatched to all the Regions.

He added that teachers can access their interview letters either on GES website or at the Regional and District Education Offices from Friday October 14.

The Northern Regional branch of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) honored seven women during the regional celebration of World Teachers Day in Bimbila.

The women, selected from seven districts across the region, were awarded for their commitment and dedication to duty as teachers and for serving as role models for their pupils in particular and their communities in general.

Teachers play an important role in national development.

They educate and develop the manpower needs of society.

Teachers also serve as role models and provide leadership and guidance for their communities.

Setting aside a day to celebrate the teacher annually is therefore in recognition of this important role in society.

The 2016 edition of the National Teachers Day and Best schools awards in the Northern Region saw an unprecedented seven women pick awards for their distinguished roles in modeling the next generation of leaders.

The Regional GNAT Secretary, Abdulai Baba, in an interview with Radio Ghana in Bimbila gave said women female teachers play a vital role in mentoring pupils, hence the decision to recognize their performance.

“We all know that female teachers in school are not only teachers, they also play the role of mothers and nurses, it is therefore important that we recognize their efforts and encourage others to emulate their example,” he stated.

Mr. Baba explained that, rewarding women does not necessarily mean that, their male counterparts are not doing well.

“I want to assure all teachers that GNAT will continue to recognize their efforts, wherever they are,” he added.

The Northern Region Director of the Ghana Education Service, Alhaji Mohammed Haroon Cambodia, said the theme for this year’s teachers’ day celebration is an appropriate one as it recognizes the status of teachers in society.

He said without the teacher, society cannot move forward, as the teacher plays a crucial role in socialization.

The Northern Regional Event took place at Bimbila in the Nanumba North District of the Northern Region.

The DCE for the area, Mohammed Ibn Abass, commended teachers for their roles in promoting community development.

He said despite the challenges teachers face in their duties; they continue to give off their best, to ensure better educational outcomes for their pupils.

He reminded teachers that no amount of material reward could adequately pay for their services and encouraged them to build their inner motivation to teach.

He reiterated government’s commitment to the improving infrastructure at all levels of education.


GBC

The NDC Parliamentary Candidate for Yapei-Kusawgu constituency and Deputy Minister for Power, John Abdulai Jinapor, has donated fifteen (15) computers and two motorcycles to the Ghana Education Service in Central Gonja District.

He said the motorbikes and the computers will aid service delivery by the GES in the district.

The presentation was at a short ceremony in Buipe the District Capital.

Mr. Jinapor advised the students in the constituency, to take their studies serious as that will guarantee them a successful future.

He further urged other stakeholders in the education sector to be wary of their actions as the country draws nigh another general election to ensure that Yapei-Kusawgu in particular and Ghana in general witnesses a violent-free 2016 elections.

The NDC Parliamentary Candidate also pledged his continuous support to the Ghana Education Service in the constituency by assisting them in diverse ways when elected to represent the constituency in the next parliament.