TEACHERS UPGRADE SKILLS IN ICT

TEACHERS UPGRADE SKILLS IN ICT

The Ghana Investment Fund electronic Communication, in collaboration with the Wassa East District Assembly, has organized a two-week workshop on Information and Communication Technology, for 26 basic school teachers in the district, to build their capacities to teach the subject in their schools.

They were taken through such topics as basics of computer, computer security and privacy, digital lifestyles, Microsoft word, excel, power point and basic internet and internet tools.

The teachers came from the Daboase D/A, St. Martin’s, Kakokrom, SIPL TI Ahmadiyya, Kwame Yaw Anglican, Aboaboso and Adeankyewodamu Basic Schools.

The manager of the communication and Information Centre, Mr. Sampson Abugah, in an interview with journalists at Daboase last week, stated that, the workshop was designed to help the teachers to develop interest in the teaching of ICT, as well a train other teachers in the subject.

He disclosed that since ICT became an examinable subject in the Basic Education Certificate Examination in 2009, the district placed first in it in 2011 and second in the Western Region in 2012, and hoped the record would be maintained in the ensuring years.

Speaking at the closing ceremony, the District Coordinating Director, Mr. Kojo De Graft Johnson, asked the participants not to indulge in fraudulent activities with the computer.

“If you fail to put this course into good use, then the whole idea of the training would be defeated, “  he stressed.

“We know, as teachers, you will impart the knowledge to your pupils and enhance the study of ICT in this district, “  He added.

District Coordinating Director, Mr. Kojo De Graft Johnson  Middle front row

WORKSHOP FOR DRIVERS

Wassa East District Assembly in its quest to ensure safe driving to help reduce the spate of road accidents on our roads in the country has organized a four day training workshop on defensive driving, use of log books, highway code and transport management for some decentralized departments drivers at Daboase, the district capital.

The District Chief Executive for Wassa East, Hon. Emmanuel Anthony Aggrey urged the drivers to take the training seriously to enable them maintain the vehicles well to avoid constant breakdowns which is a huge drain on the assembly’s coffers.

 According to the Assistant Chief Technical instructor of the district, Mr. Bernard Armoh the district assembly has been organizing this training every year to refresh the minds of drivers on defensive driving to enable them become abreast with driving technique to ensure safe driving.

He took participants through the need to apply the abbreviated word C.O. A. T. in defensive driving which simply means Concentration, Observation, Anticipation and Tolerate in driving. He said to ensure safe driving one has to concentrate and as well observe road rules and regulations such as Road markings and signs. A good driver should always be in anticipation to ensure you plan ahead well and act promptly and swiftly to deal with changes going on around your driving.

Mr. Armoh said a good driver should tolerate other road users’ conduct to ensure safety on road or adopt your own driving strategy to handle hazard caused by others.

The Planning and Transport officer for the District Education Office, Mr. Edward Armah one of the facilitators trained the drivers on safety checks and speed management. He said vehicle safety checks are checks which are required to be done on a vehicle to avert future occurrence or failure and this also helps to prolong the life span of the vehicle.

He said the checks are grouped in to three namely Daily checks which involves the checking fan blade, fan belt, head lights, tyre pressure flailed leakage under the vehicle and starting engine to listen for unusual noise. The second category being weekly checks include checking battery connection, vehicle tools and spare tyres, break and clutch fluid level, wind screen masher water level.

The third category being duty check which involves completion of log book, fuel level, operations of horns and seat belts.

He urged the drivers to always wear their seat belts for their own safety and security in mind since when a vehicle gets involved in traffic road accident, its emotion is automatically transferred to its occupants. On speed management, he said there are various speed limits to observe when a driver is approaching a residential area, cities, highway and motor ways and should be observed.

Mr. Armah said most road accidents are caused by human error. The distance in which you use to follow a particular vehicle safely is very important. To determine a safe space following distance in between or in front of other road users should be 7 meters intervals.

Mr. Kojo De-graft Johnson on behalf of the District Coordinating Director entreated the participants to abide by the code of ethics in civil service. He said they should conduct themselves at all times either at work or off-duty so as to deserve the respect of their employers’ colleagues and members of the community.

He urged them to be honest, faithful and just shall not act in manner derogatory to the honour or dignity of the service. 

DCE AND THE DISTRICT COODINATING DIRECTOR AT THE WORKSHOP FOR DRIVERS

WASSA EAST: DCE TOURS EXAMINATION CENTERS

The District Chief Executive for Wassa East, Hon. Emmanuel Aggrey has admonished all the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) candidates to give off their best to ensure that they all gain admission to the selected senior high schools of their choice.

 He made this call when he together with the District Education Director and the District Information Officer, Alhaji Yakubu Adam and Ms. Shalomina Awuku-Bekoe respectively  visited some of the examination centres at Daboase to monitor how the examination was been conducted.

The team visited the Daboase SHS centre and was informed by the supervisor, Mr. Afosah that two pupils both girls out of the 390 scheduled to write at the centre were absent and the reasons being that one is deceased and the other has travelled outside the country.

According to Mr. Sebastian Diaw the supervisor for St. Martin’s Anglican centre, four absentees was recorded out of 293 of which three were girls and one boy and the reason being that one of the girls is pregnant but the rest not much was known about them.

The intriguing part of the visit was when a thirty one year old man with name withheld was spotted writing the BECE. He said education is the key to success and that does not see his age as a hindrance. He was congratulated and encouraged to pursue his education regardless of his age.

Alhaji Yakubu Adam appealed to the teachers to ensure that the students comport themselves to avoid any embarrassment from external examiners.

According to the District Examination coordinator, Mr. Divine Kanyagui a total of 1557 pupils from fifty two schools is participating in the examination.

 He said the examination is been conducted at five centres namely Daboase SHS which has 390 pupils, Senchem D/A JHS has 209 pupils, St. Martin’s Anglican JHS has 293 pupils, Atobiase D/A JHS has 358 pupils and Ateiku D/A JHS has 307pupils. He said last year the district recorded 75% pass and hopeful that this year’s will be much better.

There were no complains of delayance in examination materials and every thing went on smoothly.

 

DCE, Hon. Emmanuel Aggrey (left) and District Education Officer Alhaji Yakubu Adam in cap

W.R. MINISTER EMBARKS ON A FAMILIARIZATION TOUR

The Western Region Minister, Hon. Ebenezer K.T. Addo has begun his familiarization tour in the region since his assumption into office as the Regional Minister by President John Mahama. The first district to visit was Wassa East District which has Daboase as its capital. As custom demands the Regional Minister and his entourage from the Western Regional Coordinating Council paid a courtesy call on Nananom at Daboase.

Hon. E. K. T. Addo expressed his gratitude for the support Nananom has been rendering to the district assembly. He spoke on the impact that the galamsey menace has on the Pra River especially on the water company causing it to spend more money on chemicals to make the water wholesome for consumption. He acknowledged the initiative of the district assembly led by the District Chief Executive, Hon Emmanuel Aggrey to pay visit to some galamsey sites of which some illegal miners were arrested. He appealed to the chiefs who indulge themselves in this illegal activity to desist from it and call for a consented from all to help curb the menace.

His next visit was to Plantation (SOCFINAF) a new Rubber and Oil Palm Plantation Company who took over from Subri Industrial Plantation Limited (SIPL) which used to be a paper and pulp company some few months ago at Daboase. There the General Manager for the company, Mr. George Kwarteng Mensah gave a brief overview of the company. He said SOCFINAF a subsidiary of SOCFINAF FA in Luxemburg has plantation in some parts of Africa and Ghana happens to be the last addition in Africa. He said the company is the largest European plantation in the world and their operation in Ghana will add up to the world.

HON. E. K. T. ADDO, WESTERN REGIONAL MINISTER IN WHITE SHIRT.

WASSA EAST DISTRICT: HAND PUMP CARETAKERS SCHOOLED

Hand pump caretakers and Area Mechanics in some selected communities in the Wassa East District have undergone, a two days training workshop at Atobiase in the Western Region. The training workshop was organized by the district water and sanitation team with sponsorship from the Wassa East Area Development programme (ADP) of World Vision Ghana.

It was attended by thirty (30) participants from fifteen (15) communities.

In an address the District Officer in charge of community development Mr. James Asmah said the training of hand pump caretakers has become necessary as a result of the many break down or non-functioning of boreholes being recorded in the district, adding that almost all the hand pump caretakers lack the technical knowledge to repair basic faults.

He further said the district has only one Area Mechanic instead of two, who conducts both minor and major repairs across the district, explaining that that has over burden the Area mechanic leading to him not been able to attend to calls made by some communities to repair their boreholes.

Mr. Asmah, however, said the training will equip hand pump caretakers to have technical knowledge and also undertake minor and daily routine maintenance. The Community Development Officer, disclosed that the training is not district wide, saying that World Vision came in to sponsor the workshop because it wanted constant supply of water to communities in its operational area.

He therefore appealed to other NGO’s and benevolent individuals to assist the Department to extend the training to all other area in district.

The resource person for the training Mr. Evans Emmanuel Aidoo, who is a former water supply engineer for community water and sanitation and CEO of Acqua Vision International, took participant through both theoretical and practical aspects of the hand pump pipes.

He said one of the cardinal duties of a hand pump pipe caretaker is to educate the community on the proper use of the pump and also conduct pump side maintenance.

Mr. Aidoo mentioned some of the common faults of the hand pump pipe and dangers associated with it as loose or mission bolts leading to the breaking of the standing plate, the hard shock absorber is worn out leading to pipe and rod disconnection and worn-out handle pipes lead to serious injuries especially with children. Others are no flow of water because of torn plunger seal, broken hook and eye rod and worn-out fulcrum plastic bearings.

He disclosed that there are about four types of hand pump pipes. This include Nira AF-85 Afridev, Vergnet and Modified India MK II practically participants were taken to two of the types mentioned thus Nira AF-85 and Afridev and were supervised to disassemble the hand pump pipes, check for damaged parts and re-assemble the pump.

Some participants expressed gratitude for the training. Mr. Kofi Amponsah Youth Chairman and member of the water and sanitation committee at Atobiase said he has been exposed to things that will help his community to enjoy regular supply of water, saying that henceforth they will not over rely on the area mechanic since they can perform such minor faults.

DAY OF THE AFRICAN CHILD/WORLD CHILD LABOUR DAY CELEBRATED

The Wassa East District Assembly in collaboration with World vision a non governmental organisation and the District Education Office has jointly celebrated this year’s world child Labour Day and Day of the African child at Sekyere Krobo, a community in the district. The themes for the World Child Labour Day and Day of the African child celebration are “Ghana, take action now! Say No to child labour in domestic work” and “Eliminating Harmful Social and Cultural Practices Affecting Children: Our Collective Responsibility” respectively.

The District Director of Education, Alhaji Yakubu Adam whose welcome address was read on his behalf by the Human Resource Officer of GES, Mr. Joseph Tetteh commended World Vision the sponsors of the programme for their commitment to supporting the celebration every year since its inception. He said “In fact I must confess that the general wellbeing of our children in the district is their primary focus.”

Mr. Tetteh in briefing the gathering on the history  of THE DAY OF THE AFRICAN CHILD (DAC) said the day is commemorated every year on June 16 by Member States of the African Union (AU) and its Partners (in accordance with Resolution CM/Res.1290 (XL).This commemoration is firstly an occasion to recall the 1976 uprisings in Soweto, when a protest by school children in South Africa against apartheid-inspired education resulted in the brutal and deadly repression of these unarmed young protesters by police officials.

 Hon. Aggrey indicated that Government’s has shown commitment to the fight against child labour over the years by ratifying International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions 182 and 183, and has approved convention 189 which we are yet to be ratified. More so the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection and all partners are constantly in the fight against child labour especially the media. 

WORLD MALARIA DAY CELEBRATION OBSERVED

World Vision / Cocoa life an NGO in collaboration with Wassa East District Health Management team and the district assembly has celebrated this year’s World Malaria Day at Wassa Atwebesa in the district. The theme for the celebration is “Invest in the Future, Defeat Malaria”.

The chairman for the occasion, Nana Nortey Chief of Atwebesa thanked the organizers for choosing their community out of the lot and urged the community members to take advantage of the pieces of advice that will be given to help reduce the impact of malaria on the community, district and the nation as a whole.

 The District Director of Health, Ms. Priscilla Amoah in her speech said Government brought many interventions to help eradicate malaria one of which was “roll back malaria” and the aim was to encourage the use of bed nets especially among pregnant women and children less than five years but that could not achieve the intended purpose.

She indicated that malaria is one of the leading causes of death worldwide and in view of this government has brought a latest intervention called “home based care” to help reduce the impact of the disease especially among children.

She said the volunteers to administer this home based care were selected from various communities under the Atobiase sub-district and have been trained to treat cases of malaria in adults, pregnant women and children from six months and above at home before they visit the nearest health facilities. She said in all fifteen communities under the sub-district are to benefit under this intervention.

The Area Development Programme Manager of World Vision, Mrs. Salome Yeboah in her address said malaria is the leading cause of maternal mortality in the country and should be of great concern to everyone. She entreated everyone in their own small way to try and keep the environment clean in order to help stop the breeding of mosquitoes which will eventually bite to infest us with the disease.

The Guest of honour for the occasion, the District Chief Executive for Wassa East Hon. Emmanuel Aggrey in his speech called for a consented effort to discourage the operations of illegal miners popularly called “Galamsey” in their various communities where these activities takes place since most of the pits dugged by these miners are left uncovered and the water collected in them breed mosquitoes and later bites to infest us with the disease. He also cautioned community members to desist from indiscriminate disposal of waste since that money which could have been used for national development is been ventured into the treatment of malaria.

Equipments such as bicycles, rain coats, first aid kits, report cards etc were given to the volunteers to start their operation. The district health director said these report cards on which cases are recorded will be collected on monthly basis by nurses trained to work with these carers in order to monitor their activities in the communities. She entreated community members to be truthful in reporting their cases to the carers to ensure the right diagnose is given.

A demonstration on how the mosquito bed net is mounted was done.

DISTRICT DIRECTOR OF HEALTH, MS. PRISCILLA AMOAH ADDRESSING THE GATHERING

MPOHOR WASSA EAST: BOPP D/A JHS WINS DISTRICT MATHS AND SCIENCE QUIZ.

An annual maths and science quiz organized for ten circuits in the Mpohor Wassa east district has been held at Daboase in the western region with Benso oil palm plantation  District Authority Junior High School (BOPP D/A JHS), emerging as winners for the 2011 edition of the competition.  The competition was organized by the district directorate of education in collaboration with the Mpohor Wassa east area development programme of world vision Ghana. Contestants were quiz in four main areas thus mathematics, integrated aspect of biology, chemistry and physics. In an address the deputy district director of education, Mr. Ankomah Appiah said the 2011 edition of the competition marks the 10^th anniversary of the programme in the district, adding that the competition forms part of measures to build the interest of the pupils in the study of maths and science.

MPOHOR WASSA EAST: BOPP D/A JHS WINS DISTRICT MATHS AND SCIENCE QUIZ.

He said hitherto the study of maths and science put pupils in a scary mood but with the introduction of the competition, the myths about the subject are gradually fading away.

The deputy director further said the competition is organized to assess the level of learning by pupils as well as to build confidence level to overcome stage fright.

Mr. Ankomah Appiah, however, expressed happiness with the performance of pupils in the district, saying that for the first time in the history of the district no school recorded zero per cent, the district equally moved from the 17^th position in the region to the 5^th position.

For his part the representative of the area development programme of world vision Ghana, Mr. Augustine Yawson admonished the pupils to take interest in the study of maths and science, adding that it does not matter the area of study one intends to pursue, either at the senior high level or at the university, one is bound to encounter maths and science.

MPOHOR WASSA EAST: BOPP D/A JHS WINS DISTRICT MATHS AND SCIENCE QUIZ.

Mr. Yawson, however, cautioned the pupils not to study the subject at the expense of other equally important subjects but rather give equal attention to all subjects.

The district coordinator of Science Technology and Mathematics Education (STME), Mr. Francis Ainoo pleaded with teachers to do their best to groom their pupils to build their confidence and also to remove inferiority complex, saying that his observation after the competition reveals that some contestants were not confident on the answers they give. Isaac Amponsah and Bernice Doe Lartey from BOPP D/A JHS won the title for Adum Banso circuit of education. They took home a plaque, certificates, books, Mathematical sets and an undisclosed amount. Ebenezer Appiah and Mary Hammond placed second for sekyere Krobo circuit. They also took home plaque, certificates, books and an undisclosed amount.

Bright Todzo and Rita Anibia came third for subri circuit. They took home a plaque, certificates and an undisclosed amount.  Other contestants were presented with certificates for participation.

MPOHOR WASSA EAST DISTRICT: Government To Implement Single Spine Pay Policy

The Deputy Minister for Information Hon. James Agyenim Boateng has said that Government is committed at implementing the single spine pay policy. He said all public sector workers will benefit from the policy once the mapping up exercise are completed by the various departments, adding that the full implementation of the pay policy has been delayed due to the delay in the map-up exercise been conducted by the various department.

Hon. Agyenim Boateng made the statement at an interactive forum with heads of decentralized departments and the staff of the Mpohor Wassa East District Assembly at Daboase in the Western Region. The purpose of the forum was to educate and explain government policies as well as to spell out government achievement since assumption of office on January 7, 2009.

The Deputy Minister said although the government of His Excellency Professor John Evans Atta Mills inherited a near collapsed economy, through the prudent management of the economy, Government have been able to achieve a single digit inflation in just 22 months in office saying that inflation have been declining for sixteen (16) consecutive times.

He said in spite of the huge debt inherited by the previous administration such as the GH₵848 million owe to the Tema Oil Refinery, Arrears of Railway workers, Road contractors and Newly trained teachers and Nurses, the Government have been able to pay and made progress as far as the socio-economic development of the state are concern.

According to Mr. Agyenim Boateng social intervention programmes such as free school uniforms and exercise books, increase in the capitation grant and expansion of the school feeding programme are measures to bring meaningful and quality education to children coming from deprived communities.

On infrastructure, the Deputy Minister for Information said government acknowledged the importance of the Rail sector to the people of the Western Region and the entire country, explaining that plans are far advanced to revamp the rail sector especially Western, Central and Eastern corridor to facilitate the movement of goods and services. He also said currently the Accra Tema shuttle service is in full operation to ease traffic in the city.

Touching on the Agriculture sector, he said 86 agriculture mechanization Centers has been established throughout the country to provide farmers with effective and modernized method of farming. He added that farmers have been provided with improved seedlings, fertilizers, irrigation system among many others to enhance bumper harvest. The Minister said government has increased the producer price for cocoa farmers to check smuggling of cocoa to Neighboring country, adding that plans are advanced to establish pension scheme for cocoa farmers. A policy he said will be extended to other farmers in the country to serve as a motivation for their efforts.

The workers assured the Minister, that they will play their role effectively and efficiently as policy implementers to ensure that the Government’s Better Ghana Agenda succeeds.