Journalist Donates To Children Rescued From Murder

Stephen Zoure carrying one of the children

THERE are many married couples searching for children and are not seeing any end in sight of their desperate search. Sadly, there are couples who are also blessed with children but have the desire to kill them due to one form of disability or the other which these children have.

Such is the plight of hundreds of children born with well-known physical and social disabilities in some communities particularly some of those located in the Eastern part of the Northern Region of Ghana; Yendi, Chereponi, Bimbilla, Mion and their surrounding communities.

But notwithstanding the hard times being experienced by many Ghanaians during this  Christmas yuletide, for handicapped children of the Nazareth Home for God’s Children at Sang in the Mion District, times were much harder until Stephen Apeweh Zoure, Northern Sector Manager of Daily Guide came around to celebrate his 36^th Birthday which fell on December 27, with them.    

Items presented to the home

Mr. Zoure also a former Northern Regional Correspondent of The Daily Dispatch, presented bags of exotic rice, edible oil, biscuits, fizzy drinks, milk, toilet rolls and among others to the disadvantaged children of the Nazareth Home for God’s Children.

According to him, it was more appropriate to donate towards the upkeep of the underprivileged during the Christmas season, and more so, because it coincided with his birthday. 

Children born as cripple, hearing impaired, visually impaired, mentally retarded and autistic among others, risked losing their lives at the snap of a finger in the hands of their parents and/or fetish priests of the aforementioned communities, mostly through poisoning.   

For members of these communities, such children were a bad omen to the destiny of their parents and the entire community and the earlier they got rid of them, the better it would be for their own good. 

According to Reverend Sister Stan Terese Mario Mumuni of the Marian Sisters of Eucharistic Love (MASEL) and Servant of the Nazareth Home for God’s Children, the practice of deliberately killing children with disabilities in those communities was an age long tradition of the indigenes there.

Stephen presents items to Rev. Stan and children

Thanks to the Yendi Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church led by Bishop Boi Nai who took a bold decision couple of years ago and jumped to the rescue of some of the children who were targeted for killing.

Currently, the total number of children in the home is 40 with the youngest being 6 months old. But Rev. Sister Stan Terese told this reporter, the home was at the moment faced with serious water and financial challenges and it was difficult to cater for the feeding and special medical needs of some of the children.

Nonetheless, she thanked Mr. Zoure for his desire to celebrate his birthday with children of the Nazareth Home for God’s Children and appealed to individuals and groups who were touched by the plight of the children not to hesitate to come to their aid.   

IBIS Trains Teachers in Three Regions of Ghana

IBIS Ghana in collaboration with Edukans Foundation, a Netherland based non-governmental organization is training over 120 teacher trainers in some selected basic schools in 11 districts of Ghana on Active Teaching and Learning Methodologies.

 

The teacher trainers, who are being trained under the Basic Education Quality Improvement Programme (BEQUIP) of Ibis Ghana, will intend train their colleagues in over 40 schools in the 11 selected districts of the Northern, Upper East and Volta Regions of Ghana. 

Some Circuit Supervisors and Tutors from some selected Colleges of Education in the North were also given some training under the BEQUIP project to sharpen their skills. 

The beneficiary districts are; Tamale Metropolis, Sagnarigu, Savelugu, Bole, Sawla-Tuna-Kalba, East Gonja, Nkwanta North, Nkwanta South, Bolgatanga Municipality, Garu/Tempani and East Mamprusi. The justification for this programme is that current teaching and learning methods in most public basic schools in Ghana are teacher-centered with less active involvement of pupils.

As a result, a lot of children complete their basic education without having acquired the necessary competency in literacy, numeracy and life skills that will enable them to face their future with confidence.

However, the BEQUIP project according to the Project Facilitator of Ibis Ghana, Johnson Libe Naapi offers the best solution to the problem.

The project, which is based on the sharing-monitoring-improving methodology, he said, is a bottom-up approach where lessons are analyzed by the teachers themselves and improvements are conceived and practiced. 

Johnson Naapi, IBIS

Mr. Naapi noted that, every six months, teacher training experts from Netherland and Ghana go into the classrooms of the participating teachers to film (monitor) and analyze (share) the teaching and learning process. After the monitoring and sharing, training is given to the teachers to improve upon their teaching skills.

He said the teacher training programme seeks to contribute towards the improvement of pupils’ academic achievements through the introduction of learner-centered teaching and learning methodologies or active learning as understood within the BEQUIP terminology, with the use of Information Communication Technology. 

This Active Teaching and Learning Methods training for schools, which started in 2012 he indicated was expected to end in 2015. The project is the brainchild of one Mrs. Ries Sieswerda, a teacher trainer at the University of Amsterdam and financed by Edukans Foundation. It is being implemented in some other African countries including Madagascar, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda and Ghana.

The Ibis Ghana Project Facilitator lauded the government of Ghana for the several education initiatives and interventions towards the promotion of quality education. He said in 2012, the Global Partnership for Education in Ghana (GPEG) Secretariat approved a 3-year grant of USD76.5 million for the Ministry of Education in Ghana to improve upon the quality of basic education in 57 deprived districts.

The grant’s disbursement guidelines he said were flexible for the districts to innovate and implement activities that would improve upon the general quality of teaching and learning in the basic schools. This includes enhancing the capacity of teachers in various subject areas, including ICT. The GPEG has started implementation at both district and individual school levels in 2013 and 2014. 

Mr. Naapi said that, the Government of Ghana also introduced a project known as “One child per one laptop computer” which offers every child in school the opportunity to learn through the use of ICT. 

He said that, through that project many teachers received training in ICT in several districts across the country. He observed that, if sustained, and with the introduction of the BEQUIP project, opportunities would be created for teachers and pupils to learn through the use of ICT.  

It will also be advantageous for the districts benefiting from the BEQUIP to use the GPEG funds to expand to more basic schools within their respective districts. This will be a great opportunity for up-scaling and sustaining the project beyond the implementing period, thus, increasing the possibility that the government will take over BEQUIP activities in the near future. IBIS is currently monitoring the GPEG disbursement process, and has started influencing some of the districts to prioritize and upscale the BEQUIP project.

Some of the teachers told Savannahnews that they have been able to train some other teachers in their communities and based on the knowledge acquired, they are now able to use ICT in teaching (PowerPoint) and doing research works and that teaching and learning in beneficiary schools had now become active learner oriented instead of teacher centered.

Madam Ries Sieswerda, the Lead Facilitator and Lecturer at the Amsterdam University and Frits Kruiswijk another facilitator encouraged the participants to sustain the BEQUIP project by organizing trainings for other teachers on active learning to improve on the quality of education in Ghana.

Neglecting SADA Will Amount To Causing Financial Loss -Sagnarigu Chief

Paramount Chief of Sagnarigu

The Paramount Chief of Sagnarigu Traditional Area, Ambassador Alhaji Abdulai Yakubu has said that any attempt by the ruling government to neglect or allow the “still crawling” Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) to die, would be a clear case of “causing financial loss to the state”. 

According to the Former Ghana Ambassador to Senegal, the failure by the government to mention the SADA in the 2015 National Budget Statement put enormous fear in the chiefs and people of the Savannah Ecological Zone comprising the Upper East, Upper West, Volta, Brong Ahafo and Northern Regions, who are the direct beneficiaries of the programme.

Speaking at the 30^th National Farmers’ Day Celebration at Kunyevula in the Sagnarigu District of the Northern Region, Naa Abdulai Yakubu lamented that the government could not allow the huge sums of money and other valuable resources pumped into SADA to go waste. 

He said that even though he had not had the opportunity to read the full text of the 2015 budget statement, there had been general information that the government would not be able to fund SADA’s activities for next year.

SADA is a Government of Ghana agency responsible for coordinating a comprehensive development agenda for the savannah ecological zones. The core mandate of SADA is to transform the Northern part of Ghana economically and socially laying emphasis on enhancing agriculture production and industrialization with the ultimate objective of sealing the development vacuum between the south and the north of Ghana. 

However, the SADA has gone through several challenges emanating from financial misappropriation, mismanagement and misplacement of priorities over the years under the leadership of the Former Board Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer. 

That notwithstanding, the government in transforming the SADA and bringing back its lost public confidence, instituted new Board of Directors led by Mrs. Angelina Mornah Domakyaareh and a new CEO, Dr. Charles Bugre. 

On the other hand, the Paramount Chief of Sagnarigu appealed to the government not to deviate from its recently announced 2015 budget statement on agriculture in order to create more opportunities for farmers and the idling youth.

He said that agriculture played an important role in the lives of many Ghanaians aside the economic benefits it gives to the state by way of contributing more than 30% of the Gross Domestic Product and employing over 60% of the population.

The Chief who is also a farmer commended the government for enumerating several interventions that would go into the agricultural sector in 2015 especially the mentioning of fertilizer subsidy programme, seed subsidy programme and the youth in agriculture programme.

Naa Abdulai Yakubu therefore appealed to the government not to allow these promises to remain rhetoric for the politicians but be translated into a reality. 

He expressed concern about the declining state of crop production in Ghana in the last few years of about 10% and hoped that the new interventions by the government would go a long way to reverse the trend. 

Sagnarigu DCE

Meanwhile, over 19 gallant farmers in the Sagnarigu District of the Northern Region were honoured in their various fields of endeavors at the farmers’ day celebration. 

Mr. Alhassan Napoli from Yilonayili community of the Sagnarigu District was adjudged the overall 2014 Best Farmer of the district. He took home maize sheller donated by SADA, two cutlasses, two pair of wellington boots and a certificate. Other winners also took home several items and certificates. 

The District Chief Executive for Sagnarigu, Alhassan Mohammed Sorogudoo on behalf of President John Mahama commended the gallant farmers for contributing to the development of the nation. He acknowledged the important roles played by the farmers in sustaining the nation’s economy and national food supply. 

According to the DCE, the John Mahama’s administration was on course to address the concerns of Ghanaian farmers and also improve on their living conditions. Mr. Sorogudoo assured the farmers of continuous government support and in proving the necessary tools and equipment as well as the agricultural inputs for bountiful yields.