Category: Education

Many parents and teachers are in support of the implementation of Reproductive Health Education (RHE) in basic schools to promote sexual and reproductive health and rights of children in Ghana, a research report has shown.

The research conducted by the Youth Harvest Foundation Ghana (YHFG), a Non-Governmental Organisation, in two districts each in the Greater Accra, Ashanti and Upper East Region was part of a five-year RHE project dubbed, ‘Evidence to Action: Sexual Health Education Advocacy Project’ being sponsored by the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU).

The research sought to find out whether parents and teachers supported the implementation of RHE in basic schools or not and at which levels and what personal and environmental factors could influence their choice.

At a dissemination workshop to make the findings known to stakeholders held at Bolgatanga, the findings showed that 60 per cent of teachers and 90 per cent of parents supported the implementation of the RHE in basic schools.

However, Mr Dominic Anarigide, the Project Officer, YHFG, who presented the findings, said the research further noted that the implementation of the RHE should begin at the Upper Primary level.

Ms Augustina Dechegme Achigibah, the Programme manager of YHFG, noted that although the findings could not be generalised to the larger population, its implementation should be in conformity with the sociocultural beliefs of society.

Ms Priscilla Nyaaba, the Executive Director of YHFG, called on various stakeholders, especially the Ghana Education Service (GES) and religious bodies, among others, to collaborate and intensify conversation for RHE in basic schools.

This, Ms Nyaaba noted, would help reduce teenage pregnancies, minimise child marriage, limit transmission of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and enable adolescents to make informed decisions to help their career and personal development.

According to Ms Nyaaba, the Ministry of Education and its partners developed a national guideline for the teaching of Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in schools in 2019, but the initiative was met with great opposition from various stakeholders due to its content, leading to a halt in its implementation.

She said while it was important to acknowledge that some elements in the document did not meet the acceptable societal norms in the Ghanaian community, it was crucial that stakeholders were engaged on the way forward as RHE was important for the growth and development of young people, especially adolescents.

Ms Priscilla Lisa Tanbesagr, the Bolgatanga Municipal Girl Child Officer of the Ghana Education Service (GES), said the implementation of RHE in basic schools was fundamental to safeguarding the future of the younger generation, adding that it was only when they were educated that they could make appropriate decisions regarding their sexual life.

Sheikh Abu-Baka Sadiq Abdul-Rahaman, a participant, noted that it was important religious bodies and other stakeholders were engaged to examine the content of any policy document in relation to sex education before its introduction into schools.

Source: Ghana News Agency

A report by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) says one in every four, representing 24.2 per cent of young persons between 15 and 24 years were not engaged in education, employment, or training during the third quarter of 2022.

The figure represents 1.5 million persons in the age group.

This is in a statement from the Service from the Annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2022 Third Quarter Labour Statistics Report issued to the Ghana News Agency.

‘More than half of the youth NEET are in the Greater Accra (312,394), Ashanti (300,161), Eastern (131,341), and Central (129,182) regions.

‘ In 13 out of the 16 regions, more than 20 per cent of young persons, 15 to 24 years were not in education, employment, or training.

‘Eastern Region (30.0 per cent) has the highest proportion of youth, with a figure about twice that of Bono Region (14.5 per cent) which has the lowest proportion,’ the report said.

The 2021 Population and Housing Census indicated that one in every ten (11.1per cent) persons 15 to 24 years, representing 1.4 million young persons, never attended school.

A slighter higher percentage of females (12.0 per cent) in the age group never attended school compared to males (10.2 per cent).

In the Savannah (43.4 per cent), North East (36.8 per cent), Northern (33.3 per cent), Upper West (20.9 per cent) and Oti (20.7 per cent). ,

The report said in all, the five regions accounted for almost half (665,508) of the young persons that never attended school.

The unemployment rate for young persons 15 to 24 years recorded during the census was 32.8 per cent with a higher rate for females (36.7 per cent) compared to males (29.3%).

The unemployment rate for the age group was above 30 per cent in 12 out of the 16 regions led by the Upper West Region (39.0 per cent) and followed by Western North (38.4 per cent).

The statement is in commemoration of this year’s World Youth Skills Day, which is celebrated annually on the 15th of July to mark the strategic importance of equipping young people with skills for employment, decent work, and entrepreneurship.

The theme for 2023 is: ‘Skilling teachers, trainers, and youth for a transformative future.’

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in collaboration with the Ghana Shippers’ Authority (GSA), has educated truck drivers and transit owners on the transportation of hazardous materials.

Mr. Kojo Opoku Mensah, EPA Deputy Director, Western Regional Office, said during the training that the exercise was to create awareness among truck drivers on how to handle and transport hazardous materials.

He said it was important for truck drivers to know the materials they carry across the country and how safely to transport them.

Mr Mensah noted that the education was to expose the drivers to the classes of hazardous materials and how they could be identified.

He said that the exercise had exposed them to the emergency action and codes that were found in the transportation of these hazardous materials.

Mr. Mensah said the exercise also exposed the truck drivers to the legal regime governing the transportation of hazardous materials, adding that ‘there are financial burdens that will be given to these drivers when they do not adhere to the instructions.’

He also noted that the EPA would continue to collaborate with truck drivers and haulage owners to ensure that drivers fully understand and appreciate the nature of the materials they transport and the measures to adopt in emergency situations.

He advised the public not to be quick to rush to an accident scene, especially where there are hazardous materials.

Source: Ghana News Agency

A group of youth advocacy networks in the northern sector has called on government to increase budgetary allocation to basic education to build inclusive and equitable quality education to guarantee lifelong learning opportunities for all.

The youth networks, comprising Northern, Northeast, and Savannah Regional Youth Networks, and Northern Ghana Youth for Development, at a press conference in Tamale, said basic education in the country was under threat due to lack of political will and commitment to fund the sector.

Ms Faaika Abdul-Salam, Acting President of the Northern Ghana Youth for Development, who read the statement on behalf of the networks, commended the government for implementing the Free Senior High School initiative, and said it had given many students access to second cycle education.

The organisers of the presser, however, expressed disappointment at the level of neglect for basic education in the country.

The group stated that the GH?4.5 billion allocated to pre-tertiary education this year, Senior High Schools alone took about 90 per cent with only 10 per cent going to basic education.

It said: ‘Out of the budgetary allocation to the sector, only GH?90 million was allocated for the purpose of constructing new basic schools, an amount that can only build 60 basic schools across the 216 districts.’

The group said: ‘Some 5,400 basic schools are still under trees and shades,’ adding that, there was urgent need for government to collaborate with education sector partners to address the situation.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) at the University for Development Studies (UDS) on Thursday clashed with its rival union, the Tertiary and Educational Union Workers of Ghana (TEWUG) over rights to be represented on the University’s Council meeting.

Members of TEWUG stormed the meeting grounds and prevented TEWU from attending the UDS Council meeting in Tamale, claiming they were the rightful group to be represented at the meeting.

It took the intervention of personnel from the security services to bring the situation under control.

Mr Asampana Emmanuel, UDS Local Chairman of TEWU – TUC, told the media that the union received an invitation from the University’s Registrar for a Council meeting only to be denied entry to the meeting by the rival union over issues of legitimacy.

He said the rival union used to be members of TEWU – TUC but broke away to form the new union.

Mr Asampana said the matter was sent to court and on April 11, 2023, the court declared TEWU – TUC as the rightful union to send a representative to the University’s Council meeting.

He, however, expressed worry over the University Council’s inability to act in accordance with the court’s decision.

Source: Ghana News Agency

World Education, an NGO, has started the pilot use of an educational technology to support former out-of-school girls to strengthen their English language proficiency using Google’s Read Along App.

A total of 65 girls, who underwent the Complementary Basic Education (CBE) programme under the Strategic Approaches to Girls’ Education project, and are currently pupils of Gburimani Ahmadiyya Primary School, Kpana Presby Primary School, and Nyankpala D/A Primary School in the Tolon District of the Northern Region, are benefiting from the pilot project.

Each day, the girls, supported by trained mentor teachers, practice for 15 minutes outside of school hours using educational tablets with an installed Google Read Along App, which provides stories aligned to their reading levels.

The Google Read Along App has over 1,000 stories in four readability levels in multiple languages, allowing children to play decoding, word recognition games, and read stories.

The App works completely offline and has no distracting advertisements or in-app purchases and leveraging Google’s text-to-speech recognition and artificial Intelligence, children practice reading while an online reading buddy ‘Diya’ provides immediate feedback and models fluency and pronunciation where needed.

The children are given rewards when they complete their daily exercises and progress to more difficult books.

Mr Stephen Konde, a Representative of World Education in the Northern Region, who visited the schools to monitor the girls as they practiced reading using the App, said the initiative became necessary because it was observed that the girls, after the CBE, faced challenges transitioning to school, because to the language of instruction in grade three and higher, was English.

Mr Konde said ‘So far, we have done one and a half months, and we have been doing an assessment to ascertain the progress that has been made.

‘We realised that girls, who were at the word level or letter level, have moved to word level. If somebody could say ‘A,’ it means the person is now able to pronounce a word, and if somebody was at that level of word, the person is now able to read a sentence. So, some have made progress.’

He said ‘Our plan is that if we get a good evaluation at the end of this three-month project, and we are fortunate to get funding, then we can look at the Tolon as a district to scale it up at that level. Then maybe after that we can look at how do we get it to the entire nation.’

Alhaji Alhassan Sumani, the Tolon District Director of Education, lauded the project saying it had come at an opportune time when they were trying to improve the reading skills of children in the area.

‘So, it is highly welcome because it will help us ensure that the young ones get the fundamentals to be able to read and improve upon instructions,’ he said.

Mr Adam Aziz, the Head Teacher of the Nyankpala D/A Primary School, said the initiative, saying it was helping the learners to read well. ‘For two months now, we have seen some form of improvement amongst the learners in terms of reading.’

Adamu Sulemana, one of the beneficiary girls, who is a pupil of Nyankpala D/A Primary School, said the App was a great support for her as she had seen improvement in her reading abilities.

Source: Ghana News Agency