Nana Kwesi Eshun

The West Africa Education Council (WAEC) has been sued by Africa Education Watch for using examiners, whose identities and contact details have been publicly disclosed, to mark 2020 WASSCE. According to the Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, Mr. Kofi Asare, on 17th August 2020, they reported WAEC’s leakage of specific names, schools, subject areas, telephone numbers, and email addresses of WASSCE’s examiners on social media; an incident WAEC later confirmed and claimed that the leaked list of 1,520 examiners was not their validated list but, a provisional list, and that they had 20,000 examiners to select from. However, instead of changing these 1,520 examiners and replacing them with its acclaimed over 20,000 examiners, they went ahead on 28th September 2020 to commence pre-marking formalities with these same examiners whose contacts have been leaked. Africa Education Watch in the statement of claim averred that, its officers took steps to verify the authenticity or otherwi...

In a letter from Dr. Eric Asare Bosman, the Deputy Chairman of the Electoral Commission of Ghana, to all the Regional Directors, dated 24th September 2020, the former stated clearly that the Electoral Commission is opening the Registration exercise one more time. According to the Deputy Chairman, the reason for this decision is to give an opportunity to those who have attained the age of eighteen (18) and citizens who for one reason or the other were not able to register in the recently ended Registration exercise. He again stated that the Registration will commence on Thursday, 1st October 2020, and will take place at all the District Offices of the Commission throughout the country. The Registration begins at 7am and ends at 6pm. Hence, all affected citizens are encouraged to partake in this exercise. Written By: Shahida Paintsil (JHS LEAVER)

  On the 23 rd of September, as Ghanaians sat comfortably in their humble aboard, the Ministry of sanitation and water resource headed by Honorable Cecilia Abena Dapaah ordered an immediate press release to the public stating that, His Excellency the President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo- Addo has prolonged the Free Water policy, which he started on the 12 th of April, 2020, for another three months that is, from 1 st October to 31 st December 2020. According to the Government, the decision was taken in order to enable Ghanaians to continue with the safety protocols against the coronavirus pandemic, laying more emphasis on the washing of hands under running water.  In the press release, the minister of sanitation and water resource also urged all Ghanaians to make judicious use of the water, as they observed the safety protocols, and again encouraged landlords and tanker service providers to abstain from charging or selling water to consumers, sinc...

  Students of the University Of Ghana from the 2000/2001 academic year, woke up to good news from the Academic Affairs Directorate of the University Of Ghana in a letter dated 22nd of September 2020.  According to the notice which was signed by Mrs. Christy Badu, the Acting Director of Academic Affairs of the university, the Business and Executive Committee approved general clemency to students who have failed to graduate from the University of Ghana for one reason or the other. Mrs. Christy Badu made it clear that this dispensation is an opportunity for all affected students to satisfy the necessary requirements to enable them to graduate. She continued that, this clemency will be for failed courses beginning from the 2000/2001 academic year, and the roll-out of this clemency will be for a period of three years that is, from 2021/2022 to the 2023/2024 academic years.  Affected students will have a maximum of two years from their first registration to re-sit and pass as m...

  The Management of the Ghana Education Service (GES) has activated the recruitment portal for qualified trained teachers who have completed the College of Education in 2019 for possible employment into service. Interested applicants are to meet all the following criteria and requirement set by GES,  Completed College of Education in 2019 and have no outstanding /referral paper. Completed the mandatory one year National Service. The applicant must sit and pass the Ghana Teacher Licensure Examination. With readiness to work wherever services are needed. Qualified applicants who have completed the College of Education in 2019 are to access the online portal through the official GES website [www.gespromotions.gov.gh] to apply on or before October 30, 2020.

The Ghana Chamber of Telecommunication in a press release has notified  Mobile subscribers and data users on the  implementation of the new tariff announced by the  Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, during the presentation of the 2020 mid-year budget review. A statement released on Monday 14th September 2020 by  the CEO of the Chamber, Dr. Ing. Edem Ashigbey indicates  the  adjustment  of products and services  charge from 9% to 5% . This 4% reduction of Communication Service Tax (CST) by the government is part of the  measures taken in alleviating cost burden on citizens in the wake of the global pandemic.  This means that when customers pay the same price for a product or service they would enjoy more. This reduction comes after a wide consultation between major stakeholders across the country. This adjustment will, however, take effect on Tuesday 15th September 2020 . FLASHBACK The Government through the Finance Minister on Octob...

The National Teaching Council (NTC) through the Ghana Education Service has served notice to the general public especially candidates who have registered to take part in this year's  Licensure Examination meant for teachers across the country to take note of the change in date of their examination which was supposed to take place this coming 24th and 25th of  September 2020 to 1st and 2nd October. In a statement released by the Council dated Friday 11th September 2020, it has become necessary to reschedule the examination to allow the continuing colleges of education student to end their semester since they left to campus as directed by the President as part of gradual lifting of the ban on the social gathering on 16th of August 2020. Teachers from the various college of education with Diploma in Basic Education (DBE), Bachelor of Education (B.Ed), or a post-graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) who want to be employed by the Ghana Education Service are eligible to take pa...

A renowned economist, Dr. Adu Owusu Sarkodie who is a l ecturer at the Department of Economics - University of Ghana, and a Research Fellow at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has described the 2020 manifestos of the major political parties in the country Ghana as a document that lacks the will and strategy to generate revenue if given the mandate to rule once again.  Speaking on one of the major weekend programs on CITI TV dubbed ''BIG ISSUE'', the economist stated clearly that the manifestos from the parties lack revenue generation strategy, however, it is more centered on expenditure.  He went further to state that, the manifestos from the NPP and NDC indicate that they are not paying attention to the budget deficit and the public debt which can put the countries revenue in distress. ''If the manifesto is concentrating on only the expenditure side leaving the revenue side, then it means we are not paying attention to the budget deficit and public debt....

Upon the gradual lifting of the ban on the social gathering including schools by the President of Ghana to help cope with the spread of the viral disease, final year University students were allowed to return to their various campuses to complete their project.  The University of Ghana, which is one of the leading Universities in Ghana has finally come up with its proposed date to start the new academic year for 2020/2021. The University of Ghana management has approved the proposed reopening date for the new academic year through a release on Friday, September 11, 2020. In the release, through the Academic Board of the University of Ghana, the first semester begins on November 2, 2020, for students in level 200 and 400 whiles February 1, 2021, is scheduled for students in level 300 and freshers (Level 100). The proposed reopening date is however subjected to further Presidential directives on reopening of tertiary institutions.