Mayor of Samsun-Turkey calls on Alfred Oko Vanderpuije
Mr. Yusuf ziya Yilma, Mayor of Samsun in Turkey said his country would partner the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) and subsequently other regional assemblies to help improve the country in the area of sanitation and business.
He said Turkey had invited Ghana’s Minister for local Government and Rural Development to Turkey explaining that the more the two countries exchanged visits with open hearts, the more learning and business opportunities would be discovered to help develop both countries.
“…we have so many practicable plans and aid to help Ghana, especially Accra Metropolitan Assemblies and other organizations responsible for sanitation to improve it systematically but considerably,” he added.
He said this on Monday when he called on the Minister in the company of his 18 member delegation made up of members of MUSAID.
MUSAID is one of the biggest independent industrial and business men association in Turkey. Delegates from MUSAID accompanied the mayor to meet with the Ghanaian counterpart.
The delegates met with the institutes of architects, planners, surveyors, and engineers and would subsequently be meeting with the Ghana Chamber Of Commerce, Ghana Export Promotion Council.
Mr Julius Debrah, Greater Accra Regional Minister, said Ghana government encouraged public-private partnerships such as the Ghana and Turkey one as a new vehicle for development.
He lauded Turkey for the good deeds they were doing across Africa citing the example of their aid to Somalia.
Mr. Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije, Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), said that the President on his recent visit to Turkey was impressed with the sanitation and the attitude of the citizenry towards the maintenance of sanitation in Samsun and wished that Accra would develop a relationship with the Mayor of Samsun to create a platform for emulating their example.
“…with regards to this the President of Ghana John Dramani Mahama asked me to follow up on his visit to develop a mutual collaboration between Ghana and Samsun that would help Ghana find practical and responsible solutions to the city’s numerous challenges…” he added
Academic advocates linkages between GES and teacher training institutions
The Director of the Institute of Education (IE) at the University of Cape Coast, Professor James Adu Opare on Monday advocated the linkages and synergies between the Ghana Education Service (GES) and teacher training Institutes.
This, he said would help produce quality teachers to meet the demands of the education sector.
He said currently, there was very little communication or linkage between the Ghana Education Service and the Teacher Training Institutes, making it difficult for the training institutes to get the appropriate feedback on the quality of teachers being produced.
Prof Opare, who said this at the end of a day’s workshop organized by the Department of Geography and Regional Planning of the University of Cape Coast, in collaboration with Durham University, United Kingdom, in Cape Coast, called for more collaboration and communication between the two organizations to help improve upon the quality of education in Ghana.
The workshop was to disseminate information to stakeholders on a research conducted on “children, Transport and Mobility in Sub-Saharan Africa”.
It was attended by GES Directors, Teachers from training colleges, students from the faculty of Education and the Institute of Educations of UCC.
The research, which was conducted in October 2008 by young researchers from Ghana, Malawi and South Africa was to find out the mobility constraints faced by school children in accessing health, education, markets and other facilities and how these constraints impact on children’s current and future livelihood opportunities.
Prof Opare also advocated the establishment of a National Education and Economic Policies, adding that, if such policies were put in place, political parties would have no option than to formulate their manifestos on education and economics based on the National policy, which he noted, would bring order into the education sector.
He said due to the lack of such a policy, it was difficult for the GES and teacher Training institutes and other stakeholders to come out with the appropriate curriculum and syllabus to meet the demands of the global world, stressing that, the current situation was very regrettable.
Prof Opare tasked the participants to ensure that the research findings were implemented, adding that, Ghanaians were good at formulating very impressive policies but many of these policies only gather dust on the shelves of researchers, a practice he said should be stopped so as to move the development of the nation forward.
Participant at the workshop recommended that the research topic should be integrated into the school curriculum from the basic to the tertiary level and should be effectively taught.
They also noted that some of the current syllabus in the basic schools through to the senior High were not relevant to modern trends and should therefore be expunged or reviewed to give room for new ones like the “children, Transport and Mobility”
Professor Albert Abane and Dr Augustine Tanle, both from the Department of Geography and Regional Planning and country, collaborators of the Research, said the research was conducted to find solutions to the numerous problems children encounter before they access schools, markets and health facilities.
The research also recommended that the media should always talk about the problems of children, and that authorities should endeavour to provide potable water in all communities as well as school buses and good roads.
It also recommended that parents should limit the work load of their children, NGOs should provide the necessary inputs such as bicycles and buses, to enable the school children get to school on time and that opinion leaders and the authorities should consider the children’s transport problems seriously and work towards solving such challenges.
Source: GNA