“Stop Ostracizing Or Locking Persons With Mental Illness” Alliance Urges

Nassam A. Abukari

The Northern Regional Alliance on Mental Health and Development has urged families, prayer camps and traditional healers across Ghana to “stop ostracizing or locking persons with mental illness (PWMI) and rather bring them out to access treatment.” 

A member of the Alliance, Nassam Alhassan Abukari, said there are instances where some PWMI or epilepsy are being “chained and confined to isolated places, beaten or bathed with hot water during treatment.” 

He emphasised that, the Alliance is not totally striping prayer camps or traditional healers off their business and profession, but rather wants to ensure that “they reduce the physical and psychological abuse they take mentally ill patients through.” 

Mr. Abukari made this clarion call in Tamale to mark this year’s World Mental Health Day which was organised by BasicNeeds-Ghana. It was celebrated under the theme: “Living A Healthy Life With Schizophrenia in Ghana, A Concern For All” and brought together stakeholders in the health sector as well as some civil society organizations. 

Tenth October is a day set aside by the World Health Organization (WHO) to celebrate successes in mental health as well as reflect on issues affecting the sector every year. The event in Tamale was also an opportunity to welcome the new psychiatrist at the Tamale Teaching Hospital, Dr. N.K.B. Soorin. Dr. Soori is currently the only psychiatrist resident in the region and for that matter Northern Ghana.

PWMI and their caregivers

According to the WHO, schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder, characterized by profound disruptions in thinking, affecting language, perception, and the sense of self. It often includes psychotic experiences, such as hearing voices or delusions. It can impair functioning through the loss of an acquired capability to earn a livelihood, or the disruption of studies. 

Schizophrenia typically begins in late adolescence or early adulthood. Most cases of schizophrenia can be treated, and people affected by it can lead a productive life and be integrated in society.

Mr. Abukari also called on government to regularly supply sufficient anti-psychotics and anti-epileptic medications to the region in order to avoid situations where persons with mental illness or epilepsy relapse due to lack or shortage of medications at the various hospitals. 

He further called on all manner of people in authority, to treat persons with mental illness and epilepsy at the home, work place and in the community with care, attention and respect.

“The Alliance again calls on Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to include plans and budgets of persons with mental illness or epilepsy in their Medium-Term Development Programmes as well as give such persons their two percent share of the District Assembly’s Common Fund.

“Last but not least, the Northern Regional Alliance on Mental Health and Development is further calling for public support towards the proposed introduction of “The Operation Clear The Street Project.” The ultimate objective of this particular project by government is to rid all streets of persons with mental illness by taking them to hospitals and health centres for proper treatment till such a time that they are declared healthy by psychiatrists”, Mr. Abukari stated.

Yaro Badimak Peter

The Executive Director of BasicNeeds-Ghana, Yaro Badimark Peter said his organisation has worked and continue to work and support persons with schizophrenia as well as other forms of mental illness. “A total of 26, 464 persons with mental disorders have been reached out to and 3,188 persons with schizophrenia supported.

“A total of 490 of them are engaged in productive activities, some of which earn them income. Occupying people with productive activities have proved to be a positive non-drug therapeutic intervention that enhances recovery”, Mr. Yaro noted.

Meanwhile, he also called on government to increase attention on providing resources such as psychotropic medicines for mental health. “Shortages in supply and availability of psychotropic medicines especially at the district and sub-district facilities continue to persist. Non-drug therapeutic interventions in public facilities are virtually absent, whilst many of the social interventions such as Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty; National Health Insurance Scheme; and 2% District Assembly Common Fund are yet to benefit significant numbers of people with mental disorders and their families.”

Appalling Education Sector In Mion District As RAINS/CFTC Intervenes

Mion GES Director

SANG, MION DISTRICT– Lack of qualified teachers in newly created Mion District in the Northern Region of Ghana, is severely affecting quality basic education delivery, Madam Yakubu Balchisu, District Director of the Ghana Education Service (GES) has told Savannahnews.

Madam Balchisu will not state categorically the exact number of schools that have vacancies for teachers in her district, except to say, the district is in dire need of teachers at the moment to serve in the hinterlands where a greater percentage of the district’s 164 primary schools are located.

She also decried the poor enrollment level of girls in the district over the years and attributed it to commercial activities along the Tamale-Yendi road that is passing through the Mion township. “There is high enrollment of girls every academic year. But as they progress from Nursery to primary, they begin to dropout in their numbers to engage in trading or kayayee. By the time they reach JHS, just a handful are left to write the BECE and you only get two or three passing” Madam Balchisu narrated.

The Mion District Director of Education made these chilling revelations to Savannahnews at an end of year review meeting of Sang Zakaria Islamic Primary School at Sang in the Mion District. The meeting formed part of the implementation of Integrated Community Empowerment (INCOME) program by the Regional Advisory Information and Network Systems (RAINS) with sponsorship from Canadian Feed The Children (CFTC).

According to Executive Director of RAINS Hardi Tijani, the overwhelming situation parents, pupils, teachers and Sang community members find themselves in currently is what has endeared RAINS and CFTC to come to their aid with support in the areas of education and agriculture.

GES Dir. (2nd L) receiving TLMs from RAINS Exec. Dir.

He recalled that, before the advent of the INCOME program, Sang Zakaria Islamic School was operating virtually in an open environment, because all the structures were in a very dilapidated state and it took lots of resources to rehabilitate all the classrooms and built new ones to accommodate teachers and pupils.

“We’re currently sponsoring three voluntary teachers in this school and six others in Zoosali, Bidima and Kpachilo communities to upgrade themselves at the Training College. Some women in this community have also been supported to go into farming to enhance their food security and income situation. In addition to this, we’re donating teaching and learning materials (TLMs) as well as new set of classroom furniture to the kindergarten and class 1 pupils who until today have had to sit or lie on the floor to write. In addition to this, are bicycles for some pupils who have to walk longer distances to school everyday,” Mr. Tijani noted.  

INCOME, a three-year program (2013-2015) is being implemented in four communities in two districts. They include Sang in the Mion District, Bidima in West Gonja District, Kpachilo and Zosali in Savelugu-Nanton Municipality. 

The program intends to strengthen educational structures at the community levels to engage the necessary actors in quality education delivery; and build the capacity of community stakeholders on advocacy and lobbying on issues concerning education, food security among others.

Project Officer of INCOME Gloria Akugri, said at the moment, the program is supporting 1,077 school children at the basic level and 240 women smallholder farmers in all four beneficiary communities. The 2014 implementing year, she said, has also seen the introduction of apiculture, community animal revolving scheme alongside farming as well as the formation of a village savings and loans association to further improve income levels of families.

“…CFTC and RAINS collaboration pays particular attention to early childhood development, targeting children from ages four to five years as well as those at the basic school level. This is because, though early childhood development education is part of Ghana’s basic education system, this level of education has largely been underserved with teachers, school facilities and teaching and learning materials among others, thus justifying the need for CFTC/RAINS continues support in providing the needed resources in these areas,”, Ms Akugri emphasised.

Meanwhile, like Oliver Twist, always asking for more, Headteacher of Sang Zakaria Islamic School Mr. Atoliya Tychicus Ayamga, appealed to the RAINS/CFTC, GES and other charitable organisations to provide them with more furniture, teachers’ accommodation, a classroom block for Junior High School, additional recreational facilities for kindergarten and electricity to further boost teaching and learning.

Kpano School Tops Quiz Competition By World Vision-Ghana

Exec. Dir. Bibir, J.C. Osei

NANTON, SAVELUGU-NANTON– If teachers and other stakeholders in education could spend quality time with deprived school children in rural Northern Ghana, where the annual statistics of performances of pupils and schools are nothing to write home about, their efforts could eventually yield some results.  

A case in point is the Nanton Constituency in the Savelugu-Nanton Municipality in the Northern Region of Ghana, where there are many schools without the full complement of professional teachers to impact the lives of children who are desirous of learning, Local Authorities say.

The pupils of Gbulung, Kpachilo, Nanton-Kurugu, Kpano and Gbumgbum Primary Schools in the Nanton Constituency have over the years found themselves in a situation where they had to make do with the few teachers available, who sometimes would not even turn up for school.

As a result of this situation, a total of 22 Junior High Schools presented by the Savelugu-Nanton Municipal Directorate of the Ghana Education Service for the 2012 Basic Education Certificate Examination saw 15 schools scoring below 40 percent representing 68.20 percent.

However, luck recently smiled at the eager-to-learn pupils of these schools through World Vision-Ghana an international non-governmental organisation and BIBIR-GHANA a local non-governmental organization, when they were organised in groups to be taught how to read, words formation/spelling, general knowledge and how to pronounce words correctly as well as do some basic arithmetic.

As part of the implementation of the project, Bibir-Ghana also formed reading clubs in the five community schools, and revived existing ones formed by World Vision-Ghana previously to imbibe the culture of reading amongst children.

The results of the literacy and numeracy education programme that was implemented within just a period of one-month by World Vision-Ghana in the Nanton Constituency, with technical advice and support from Bibir-Ghana, have been very inspiring and commendable.

Kpano E/A Primary School Contestants

A quiz competition organised by Bibir-Ghana as part of evaluation of the project saw Kpano E/A Primary School taking first place with 74 points out of 100 score points. Gbulung, Gbumgbum, Nanton-Kurugu and Kpachilo Primary Schools also secured second, third, fourth and fifth positions respectively with 63, 61, 60 and 49 points.

The Director of Bibir-Ghana Joseph Charles Osei told Savannahnews all the pupils who represented their schools in the competition were awarded with prices including school bags, exercise books, pens and other learning materials.

Like the various communities and their Parent Teacher Associations and School Management Committees, he urged World Vision-Ghana to extend the duration of the project in order to make enormous impact on the children as well as reverse the poor performance of pupils and schools.

“For the short period that the project lasted, I am proud to say that, Bibir-Ghana was able to build confidence in the children and their desire to learn also increased. If only the project could be extended by World Vision, schools in the Nanton Constituency would chalk success in academic work in few years to come”, Mr. Osei emphasised.

Penplusbytes Holds Future Journalists Project 2014 On News Innovations

Prez. Penplusbytes, K. Ahiabenu II

ACCRA, GHANA–  THE 2014 edition of an annual journalism mentoring programme, designed by the International Institute of ICT Journalism– Penplusbytes to provide professional nurturing opportunity to Journalism and Communication students, is slated for Wednesday, October 8th, 2014 at the New Media Hub, Osu- Accra.

Dubbed the “Future Journalism Project”, this year’s event focuses on exploring technologically efficient ways of propagating news information in a largely digitizing world. Penplusbytes has instituted the “The Future of News Competition”, which will be preceded by a half-day workshop on the central theme of “News Innovations”.

The workshop is to help expose the need in pushing beyond the imaginary boundaries of news dissemination by boosting the capacities of participants to identify and better appreciate the gains existing in leveraging the rather increasing technology avenues such as social media tools in the news generation process.

Participating in the one day event are 11 invited Communication and Journalism schools that are be expected to come out with innovative ideas for publishing news. Each school is expected to be represented by a three-member team which will make a case for their various innovations through a presentation to a panel of judges after which the winner will be rewarded with a cash prize of GHȼ 2000.00 and a certificate.

“This is a unique platform for our would-be communicators and journalists, affording them the chance to shape the future of journalistic excellence by bringing to bear their ideas of news innovations and showcasing diversity in strategy for news dissemination in our new digital age with a chance of being rewarded and this is exactly what Penplusbytes stands for; excellence”, said President of Penplusbytes, Kwami Ahiabenu II.

A mentorship mechanism is in place to ensure that participating students will, ahead of the competition, receive continuous assistance and tutelage from astute practitioners on their various innovative works for the competition after which winners will be rewarded with cash prizes and certificates.

Penplusbytes is a leading pan-African, not-for-profit organization, that seeks to empower the media through the use of Information Communication and Technologies to promote high quality journalism while at the same time working in good governance and technology, new media and innovations, as well as oil, gas and mining.