Teacher trainees beat ‘war drum’ over unpaid feeding grants

Elikem Derrick Melesusu

Trainee teachers across  the country are very upset over government’s inability to promptly release funds towards their feeding and utility in school.

According to them, following the cancellation of allowances to trainees in 2014 and a new policy to cater for their feeding grants and utilities, government has defaulted in releasing such funds for the past three semesters.

A situation, President  of the Volta  sector of the Teacher Trainees Association of Ghana (TTAG), Elikem Derrick Melesusu,  said is hampering the effective running of all 38 colleges of education nationwide. 

Speaking at a press conference in Ho on Wednesday, Mr. Melesusu noted that government’s failure to promptly honour its obligation to the institutions  has compelled some college principals to adopt unauthorized means to raise funds from students for their  feeding and utility payment.

According to him, some the colleges  have billed each  student  GHc 560 as feeding fee as well as   between GHc 50 and GHc165  for utility.

Congestion at Mawuko Girls SHS, as Getfund projects stall

Authorities of the E.P Church Mawuko Girls Senior High School in Ho in the Volta region are having tough time  in  providing quality education to  students due myriad of challenges confronting the school. 

The school with students population of about 1,780 is battling with inadequate classrooms and dormitories, among others. 

A recent  visit by this reporter to the school revealed that some   Getfund projects  began in the school,  are at a standstill, with   classes being conducted  in some of the uncompleted  structures and part of the dinning hall.

There is congestion in the dormitories as students pack their trunks and chop boxes on the corridors. 

Assistant headmistress of the school in charge of welfare, Rose Nyawuto said, the situation has become a ‘headache’ to management.

Uhas spearheads campaign on healthy living among Ghanaians

Uhas students on a health walk

The Head of Nutrition and Dietetics  Department of the University of Health and Allied Sciences, Eunice Berko-Nartey has advised Ghanaians to  adopt routine physical exercise in order to minimize the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.

According to her, diseases such as stroke and hypertension is on the rise especially among  young adults due to bad eating habits and lack of regular physical exercise.

She therefore asked everyone to pay critical attention to their wellbeing by adopting healthy lifestyle.

Mrs. Berko-Nartey was Speaking to Starr news  during community campaign organized by UHAS dubbed   'Healthy Eating Advocacy Drive' in Ho.

The campaign started with a massive walk by students, residents and personnel of the security agencies through the principal streets of the regional capital and was climaxed at the forecourt of the regional hospital with health screening for participants.

First year Ho Poly student murdered

Police in Ho are investigating the gruesome murder of a female student of the Ho Polytechnic by an unidentified assailant(s), Monday dawn.

The body of Naomi Kpodzro, a first year HND Fashion student was found in a pool of blood by her mates on Monday dawn at 'Divine Star' - a private female hostel- with knife and gunshot wounds on her body.

She was however pronounced dead at the regional hospital in Ho, where she was rushed for treatment.

An assistant registrar in-charge of Public relations at the Polytechnic, Mr. Isaac Meyir who confirmed the incident,  said the family of the deceased have also been contacted. 

Though, It is unclear what led to the killing,  reports indicate the deceased may have offended a lover.

According to anonymous sources  , a call made to the victim's phone was answered by the suspected killer who asked the caller to let the victim know that, “it's not everyman's money you spend and go for free.”

However, a contrary report  indicated that, the lady might have been a victim of a mistaken identity, whose roommate might have been the actual target.

UHAS Land owners to demonstrate over unpaid compensation

Individuals, whose lands were taken for the construction of permanent campus for University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) at Sokode-Lokoe near Ho in the Volta region, are up in arms against government for long delay in the payment of their compensations.

Government through an Executive Instrument (EI) compulsorily acquired the lands for the first public university in the region, which was established an Act of Parliament in 2011.

Though the construction of permanent structures on the land, which begun in 2013 have been completed this year, the land owners are yet to be compensated.

To this end, the individuals who have come together under the UHAS land owners association have resolved to demonstrate at the permanent campus on Wednesday, November 18, same day President Mahama is expected to commission the campus.

“We are compelled to demonstrate on Wednesday, November 18 at the university premises to make government and the general public aware of the unfair and illegal treatment of UHAS land owners, with regards to the compensation which we are constitutionally owed,” the group said in a press release on Monday.

Pencils of Promise removes schools under tree in Adaklu

Hundreds of school pupils and their teachers in selected basic schools  in the Adaklu district of the Volta region can now carry out  their academic activities in a better and conducive classrooms, thanks to  the benevolence of a non –governmental organization, Pencils of Promise(PoP).

Due to inadequate infrastructure over the years, some of the school were compelled to hold classes under trees and thatch structures,  leaving the pupils and staff at the mercy of the weather. 

A total of seven communities benefited from various units of classroom blocks constructed by the NGO, Pencils of Promise with support from the  district assembly and the MPs common fund, at the cost of GHC  1.8million.

The projects executed within a record time of 4months, according to Mr. Freeman Gobah, country director of PoP, is aimed at boosting educational activities in the  area by increasing school  enrollment in the seven beneficiary communities.

He therefore charged  school  authorities to make good use of the infrastructure in improving academic performance of the pupils. 

A teacher in one of the beneficiary schools at Adaklu-Kpeleho, where the projects were commissioned, Ernestina  Akpe expressed gratitude about the project, saying it will help reduce the high  attrition rate among staff due to poor infrastructure.

“We use to be under sheds and whenever the cloud gathers, we have to earlier. Sometimes too, we get beaten by the rain. .Most  teachers have left [the school]  because of this problem. So we’re grateful this problem have been resolved,” she stated.

One of the thatch structures use fr classroom

UHAS is making steady progress- Prof. Binka

The vice chancellor of the University of health and allied science (UHAS) in the Volta region, Professor Fred Binka has noted that, the university is progressing steadily in delivering on its mandate of training world class health professionals to meet  the country’s healthcare needs.

According to him, the university which is in its third year,  has a seen a “steady but huge increase in the number of applicants who wish pursue their dreams of becoming health professionals.”

“Last year we received 2011 applications for the 2014/2015 academic year and we were only able to offer places and enrolled 458 students. This year the total number of applicants have doubled. We had 4124 applications to which 829 have been enrolled”

Speaking at the  fourth matriculation ceremony of 829 fresh students for the 2015/16 academic at the university’s newly completed permanent campus at Sokode-Lokoe in Ho, Prof. Binka also underscored the impact of the first public funded university in the region, is making on people across the a cross the region through its community service programme and assured the students of wholistic theoretical and practical  training.

‘We need a generator’-Volta school for the deaf appeals

Imagine not being able to communicate with other persons, whenever power goes off…? This is the situation, in which students of the Volta school for the deaf in Hohoe found themselves, due to their hearing and speech impairment.

Because of the current power crisis, the students who communicate through sign language, can no longer interact in the evenings during power outages, as they unable to see and interpret their own ‘signings’ [gestures] in darkness.

The situation has therefore left with no option than to retire to early bed, since the school also lack a standby generator to remedy the situation.

Headmistress of the school, Madam Diddy Ntim told Volta Online in an interview that, the erratic power situation is adversely affecting school activities in the evenings and appealed to benevolent individuals and organizations to come to their aid.

“We use our eyes to see what we sign, so when the lights are off, everything goes mute, because we cannot communicate in darkness. So we need a standby generator to use in times of light off.. We’ will be grateful if people will support us.”

The school founded in 1971 and solely funded by the government of Ghana, currently has a population of about 400 students.

 Madam Ntim, has therefore asked for public support in terms of food items and sponsorships to complement government’s efforts in educating these children with special needs.

OLA SHS hosts Summer Camp for Girls Senior High Schools

Cross Section of Participants

About 600 girls from all 38 Girls Senior High Schools in the country have converged at OLA Senior High School in Ho to participate in the 2015 summer camp.

The annual camp, instituted by the Forum of Heads of Girls Senior High School (FOHGSHS) in 2007, is to provide a platform for the students to interact and deliberate on issues of common interest.

Some of  the schools include,  Wesley Girls SHS, St. Louis SHS, Aburi Girls SHS, Mfantsiman Girls, Bolga Girls SHS, St. Mary's Girls SHS, E.P Mawuko Girls SHS, Gambaga Girls SHS, Tamale Girls SHS, Islamic Girls SHS, Krobo Girls SHS, Ahantanman Girls SHS, among others.

President  of the forum and headmistress of Wesley Girls Senior High School in Cape Coast, Mrs. Betty Dzokoto, said, FOHGSHS through the annual camps,  is committed to training high calibre of ladies who will break new grounds by empowering  young girls to break the socio-cultural barriers which militates against  their holistic  growth and development.

The one week camp programme, which is themed, ‘the cyber menace’, will engage the young girls in brainstorming the rudiments on the use of the cyber space and its associated dangers to users.

UHAS lecturer who committed Suicide buried

The Late Winfred Korku Ametefe (c)facebook

The mortal remains of the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) lecturer, who committed suicide has been buried in Ho on Saturday.

Winfred Korku Ametefe’s, body was found hanging in his official residence at Ho VORADEP Village last Tuesday by the Police, after some residents in area complained of a bad stench emanating from the deceased’s apartment. He is believed to have committed the act three days before the body was found.

The burial which took place at the Ho public cemetery Saturday morning was preceded by a brief solemn burial service at the Elorm E.P Church at Ho-Bankoe.

In attendance, were members of the UHAS community, as well as relatives and friends of the 41 years old lecturer, most of whom, are yet to come to terms with his sudden demise.

One of his close allies narrated that, “Winfred, is an extrovert, who is very cordial with everyone. There was no day that you’ll see him moody; so I'm very shock to hear such a tragedy could befall him.”

South Tongu GES falls on capitation grant to pay utility bills

Heads of some public basic schools in the South Tongu district of the Volta region are up in arms against the district education directorate for cutting down on their allocation of the capitation grant, being disbursed for running of the schools.

Information gathered by Voltaonline, revealed that, the education office levied each basic school pupil, 50pesewas and subsequently deducted it from their share of the capitation grant of GHc4.50 per child.

The amount which is lodged in a special account known as ‘District Support Levy’ is meant to help the office defray its debts to utility providers including the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).

But some of the head teachers who are unhappy about the deduction noted that, it will adversely affect the smooth running of the schools, as they depend on the grant to supply teaching aids and other items needed to teach the pupils effectively.

Dozens displace by weekend Rainstorm

Hundreds of families in South Tongu, Ketu-North and Ho municipalities of the Volta Region were rendered homeless, a rainstorm swept through some communities in the three districts, over the weekend.

Roofs of some basic schools were also ripped off, disrupting educational activities in the affected communities.

According to information from the National Disaster Management Organisation, (NADMO) the rain storm swept through Hodzo in the Ho municipality days earlier and destroyed the roof of a 6-unit classroom block in addition to few individual houses.

Similar destructions were experienced at and Devego in the Ketu-North district, the storm hit there and South Tongu district on the Saturday.

Three communities, Agbagorme, Agbakorpe and Lakpo were worst affected, with 92 homes and three schools destroyed.

Ho Poly Ready For Technical University

Ho Polytechnic is ready to join the first batch of Polytechnics in Ghana to be converted into Technical Universities in 2016.

According to the Rector, Prof. Emmanuel Kojo Sakyi, Ho Polytechnic is more than 50% ready for conversion into Technical University having started implementing the recommendations of the Dr. George Afeti Committee.

The Rector made the announcement recently at a press conference in Ho in commemoration of his 100 Days in Office which originally fell on the 5^th of January, 2015.

As part of the recommendations of the Technical Committee, for a polytechnic to be granted technical university status, it should be offering a minimum of four (4) Bachelor of Technology degree programmes in science and technology based disciplines.

Work begins on GRA Customs academy hostels at Kpetoe

Graphical Impression of the Hostel

Work has begun for the construction of male and female hostels at the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) Customs Academy at Kpetoe in the Agotime-Ziope district.

The academy, which is the only customs training school in the country, has not seen any major facelift since its establishment many decades ago.

This situation has inconvenient trainees of the academy, who have been sleeping a material warehouse for the past forty years.

But, cutting the sod for the 10 million Ghana cedis project,   the Acting Commissioner of the Customs Division, Mr Wallace Kofi Akondor expressed optimism that, the 82 and 102 beds female and male hostel facility, when completed  would boost the training of more personnel and also reduce the cost of personnel training for the Division.

Deputy Min. calls for revamping of Arts and Culture in Schools

The Deputy Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Madam Dzifa Abla Gomashie has called on Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to collaborate with Ghana Education Service and the Centre for National Culture to revamp Arts and Cultural activities in the various basic and second cycle schools in the country, as a means of preserving and promoting the rich Ghanaian culture.

According to her, Arts and Culture is what distinguishes a person or a group of people from others hence the need to ensure it never goes extinct, noting that without art and culture a person or group of people has no identity and heritage.

This, she said is necessary in protecting the country’s culture heritage against western adulteration and imbibing true Ghanaian values and patriotism among the youth and generations unborn.

New school block for Tanyigbe-Anyigbe

A 3-unit classroom block with office and store has been commissioned at the Tanyigbe-Anyigbe M.A Basic School in the Ho Municipality.

The school block which was constructed by the Council of Ewe Association of North America (CEANA) at the cost GH¢ 100,000 replace a fifty year old dilapidated structure which had become a death trap.

Mrs. Rose Quarshie, former Executive Director of CEANA, said the project is part of group’s contribution towards quality education delivery in the community and urged the parents invest in the education of their wards.

She said the group, which is made up of Ewes from Benin, Togo and Ghana, based in United State and Canada  has the objective of providing social intervention projects in health, education, water and sanitation across communities in all three countries.

Mr Francis Ganyaglo Deputy Volta Regional Minister commended CEANA for complementing government’s efforts in ensuring the delivery of accessible quality education.

AUDIO: Ho Polytechnic Management debunks local POTAG allegations

Dr. JVK Afun, Outgoing Ho Polytechnic Rector

The Management of Ho Polytechnic in the Volta region have debunked allegations of financial malfeasance levelled against it by the leadership of the local chapter of the Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana (POTAG).

During a press conference on Monday, September 30, Paul Deladem Koku chairman of the Ho Polytechnic PoTAG, accused the management of spurious administrative decisionsand downright manipulative scheming which has caused a huge seepage of the Polytechnic’s finances.

The leadership of POTAG accused Management of deliberately delaying the payment for a Nissan Teena saloon vehicle purchased in April 2012 without due process, which has  accrued of interest for two years, while the polytechnic council have approved the said vehicle to be given as a gift to the rector, Dr. JVK Afun whose tenure ends on September, 30.

But reacting to the allegations on Tuesday, outgoing Rector, Dr. J.V.K. Affun and the Registrar, David Dzontoh described the accusations as baseless, frivolous and without any merit.

Pencils of Promise to boost Education delivery in Volta region

Mr. Goba, director of PoP signing the MoU with Mr. Ganyaglo and Alhaji Haroon

In an era where the standard of Basic and Senior High school education in the Volta region continue to take a nose dive coupled with poor and inadequate classroom infrastructure, an educational charity organisation, Pencils of Promise (PoP) have officially entered into a Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with the Volta Regional Directorate of Education to help stem the situation.

The MoU, pave the way for PoP to complement government’s effort in providing classroom blocks and other teaching and learning materials for schools in deprived communities for the next five years. The charity organisation which started operations in 2012 has already built classrooms for 53 schools in 15 districts of the Volta region within the last two years.

Mr. Freeman Goba, Country Director of the organisation said Pencils of Promise is committed to providing 500 school blocks in Ghana by the end of 2015. This, he said is in fulfilment of the Organisation’s mission of bringing smiles on the faces of the less privileged, through the provision of shelter and logistics to deprived community schools.

Varsity of Health, Allied Sciences gets substantive Council

The first substantive Governing Council for the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) Ho have been inaugurated in Ho last Wednesday.

The 13-member council replaces the University’s Implementation Committee, which acted as interim Council, since its establishment by an Act of Parliament (ACT 828) in 2011.

The Council which has a-three-year tenure to be renewed once is under the chairmanship of Prof. Kofi Anyidoho of the University of Ghana-Legon, who was also chaired the interim council.

The Minister of Education, Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyeman, who inaugurated council, commended the interim Council for the “remarkable progress” made and urged the substantive Council to be guided by provisions in the University’s Act in all its deliberations.

Other members on the Council are Mrs Justice Agnes Dordzie of the Court of Appeal, Togbe Tepre Hodo IV, Legal Practitioner, Prof. Ernest Aryeetey, Vice-Chancellor of University of Ghana, Dr. Yaw Adu-Gyamfi, CEO Danadams Pharmaceuticals Industries and Dr. Sodzi Sodzi-Tettey, Catholic Health Services.

Others include Prof. Fred Binka, Vice-Chancellor UHAS, Mr Paul Dzandu, Deputy Executive Secretary National Council on Tertiary Education (NCTE), Mr Dzidzeme K. Sedanu-Kwawu, representative of Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS).

The rest are Mr Emmanuel Adjei, Chief ICT Officer UHAS, Mr Kwabena Sakyi, representative of the Federation of Universities Senior Staff Associations of Ghana (FUSSAG), Dr. Francis Zotor, representative of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), and Mr Daniel Y. Sarfo, representative of the Students Representative Council (SRC).

Teachers locked out GES Boss; demands his interdiction

Outgoing Regional GES boss, Emmanuel Keteku, (L) with Successor (R)

Teachers and staff of Agortime-Ziope district directorate of the Ghana Education Service in the Volta region last Tuesday demonstrated against what they describe as the sordid state of affairs in the directorate under the directorship of Gershon Kofi Agyeman.

The about 400 aggrieved educations workers, clad in red armbands defy an early morning rain to besieged the premises of the directorate at Kpetoe, on the first day of reopening of schools to locked up the director’s office and demanded his interdiction.

They accused the director of financial mismanagement, autocracy and intimidation as well neglect of his official duties, a situation they claim has stalled progress of education delivery in the district since he took over three years ago.

A press release, read by the Public Relations Officer of directorate, Patrick Tekpor, on behalf of the protestors, stated that Mr Agyeman has been an absentee director who once a while, spends an hour or two in the office whenever he deemed it fit.

‘He has never scheduled any staff meeting since his arrival to discuss challenges confronting the directorate and education in the district and efforts to get the right things done prove futile.’

They also claim the director has sidestepped procurement procedures and unilaterally collect and spend budgetary allocations meant for schedule officers.