The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, has commended the Campus Broadcasting Association of Ghana (C-BAG) for playing a key role in the dissemination of factual and relevant information to the public.

Prof. Ghartey noted the various radio stations on campuses in tertiary institutions in the nation have served as important platform for academia to educate, sensitize and also share research findings on critical issues affecting society.

The Vice-Chancellor gave the commendation when members of C-BAG paid a courtesy call on him at the Council Chamber. He also praised C-BAG for exhibiting professionalism in its work adding that “These days, people say all sort of things in the media but you have been consistent in disseminating factual information”.  He noted that through the activities of campus radio stations, the image and reputation of universities and other tertiary institutions had been enhanced.

Prof. Ampiah said C-BAG has also played a critical role in the management of the various tertiary institutions. “You help us to convey notices and other vital information to lecturers, students and other categories of staff” he said.

The Vice-Chancellor particularly applauded ATL FM for the professionalism of its staff and the quality of content they churn out.  He said the station had made UCC proud by winning several local and international awards. He pledged his administration’s continuous support to enhance ATL FM’s activities.

Explaining the purpose of the visit, the Station Manager of ATL FM, Mr. Kwabena Antwi-Konadu, said members of C-BAG were on campus for a two-day meeting and strategic dialogue and deemed it important to pay courtesy call on the Vice-Chancellor.

On his part, the Chairman of C-BAG, Dr. Abubakar Sadique Ahmed, said the association was formed in the early 2000s to share best practices, knowledge and also seek the welfare of its members. He said initially campus radio stations operated on experimental basis for teaching purposes. He noted that most of the astute broadcasters in the mainstream media were produced by the campus radio stations.

Dr. Ahmed said campus radio stations had over the years demonstrated the relevance of universities to the general public saying “We want to demystify the issues surrounding academia as living in an ivory tower” He noted that campus radio stations were partners in the management of tertiary institutions and, therefore, need support to play their roles effectively. He appealed to the Vice-Chancellor to convince his colleagues in other institutions to pay keen interest in the activities of campus radio stations and provide them with the needed support.

The team from C-BAG was made up of representatives from University of Ghana, Valley View University, Ghana Institute of Journalism and Takoradi Technical University College.

A two-week International PhD Summer School has been opened at the Institute for Development Studies (IDS).

The Summer School which is a collaboration between IDS and the International Centre for Development and Decent Work (ICDD) at the University of Kassel, Germany has the theme “Constructing Research Frameworks on the Sustainable Development Goals in Africa’s Policy Environment”.

IDS and ICDD sought funds together to offer opportunities to enable 33 others participate in this year’s Summer School. In all 43 participants from ten countries are taking part in the programme. The School would consider goals 2, 5, 8 and 15 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Welcoming participants, the Acting Director of IDS, Dr. Emmanuel Y. Tinkorang, said the programme since its inception has created exchange programmes and some PHD collaborations. Dr. Tinkorang was hopeful that, any framework that would come out as result of the School, could be implemented and transcend into policy gaps to reflect in the lives of the people.

The Dean of the Faculty of the Social Sciences, Prof. Francis Eric Amuquandoh, indicated that in dealing with Agenda 2030, researchers had huge roles to play in order to meet the targets.“To achieve the 17 SDGs, there is the need to prepare researchers in order to reach the targets. We need to equip future researchers with knowledge and skills”, he said.

Prof. Amuquandoh, said the School provided an opportunity for students to take advantage of and learn new things in development.“This is an opportunity for students to learn how to combine knowledge and practice”.

Opening the Summer School on behalf of the Provost of the College of Humanities and Legal Studies, Prof. Dora Edu-Buandoh, Prof. Peter Grant said he was elated that the programme was being hosted by the IDS since the SDGs were all about the development of the society. She noted that: “With the pool of scholars assembled for the Summer School, I can say that the theme aptly fits the programme”. Prof. Grant urged the participants to come up with policies that would be beneficial to the society.

“Whatever framework you come up with, should not be for the award of degrees alone, rather, they should be fit for policy development and implementation”, he said. She indicated that, he was particularly happy for the various SDG themes to be examined during the two-week period of the School adding: “they should impact positively on the populace”. He commended organisers for the South-South cooperation that influenced their choice of participants and urged the 10 PHD students from UCC to take active part in the School saying “You have a lot to learn from the array of scholars assembled at the school”.

The Dean of the School of Graduate Studies, Prof. Ernest Laryea Okorley, chaired the function and reiterated the need for the School to come up with realistic framework to serve humanity. “Many at times, we come up with frameworks but do not come up with what to do and leave it to the politicians. The time has come for us to have a clear cut and practical policies that no one can run away from”, he said. “I believe that, with the calibre of people and cultures here, we can share ideas and have concrete frameworks that are implementable”, he concluded.

The National Teaching Council (NTC) has held a two-day workshop to discuss and review deliverables on Continuous Professional Development (CPD), Licensing, Registration and Examination Procedures to improve on the professional competencies of teachers nationwide.

As a regulatory body, the Council is mandated by the 2008 Education Act, Act 778 to make teaching a profession through licensing and registration of teachers; setting standards for teachers; mapping and coordinating activities of CPD providers and supporting teacher training institutions to produce the needed manpower in the pre tertiary level.

In view of this, NTC of the Ministry of Education announced few years ago that teachers, including teacher trainees, would have to pass a special examination before acquiring a license to practice the profession. The move is to ensure discipline and weed out non-performing teachers from the educational system.

Renewal of the licenses would be based on professional competence and development of teachers, according to the Council. However, some teacher unions, especially the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) kicked against the new policy, calling for more stakeholder consultation on the implementation of the policy to license teachers in the country.

It is against this backdrop that the NTC has rolled up series of workshops and stakeholder consultation on the implementation of the new policy, including the benchmark for CPD, guidelines on registration and licensing of teachers, and guidelines on quality teachers’ status assessment.

Addressing the two-day workshop on the theme” Professionalism and Quality Teacher Status (QTS)”, a Policy Institutional Development Consultant, Dr. Sam Kwaku Awuku, noted that teaching was a complex, multifaceted professional activity which involved “an art, a science and a craft.” He said “The art of teaching is about being responsive and creative, as well as developing intuitive capabilities and the science of teaching is about using research and other forms of evidence to inform decisions about how to teach. The Craft of teaching is about mastering the full range of skills and practices needed by teachers to discharge their professional duties effectively,” Dr. Awuku added.

Dr. Awuku noted that the licensing of teachers was key to ensure professionalism at the educational sector and added that the licensing regime would enable NTC to smoke out unprofessional teachers from the system. To this end, he suggested to the NTC to include proficiency skills test, good literacy and good numeracy as standard requirements for licensing of teachers as done in the United Kingdom. “It is expected that every professional teacher needs to be literate in terms of English, numeracy and to communicate well with our learners”, he said. “Numeracy and Literacy are foundational skills that every child needs to have to be able to function effectively to become a life-long learner”.

Dr. Awuku advised teacher unions to disabuse their minds from taking radical stance on issues and brand themselves as professional bodies to make the education sector vibrant. He said no country could develop without professional teachers and called on all stakeholders to embrace the new policy to put the country’s educational system on a giant pedestal. “No country can develop without appreciating the professionalism of teachers. If we professionise the profession and everybody is proud of it, people are likely to stay in it. Even when they step out of it. They will be contributing to it,” he added.

The Provost of the College of Education Studies, Prof. Eric Magnus Wilmot, speaking on Continuous Professional Development (CPD) Policy, mentioned numerous CPD activities professional teachers should undertake before securing promotion. He said people should earn promotion on merit but not on the basis of long service. “People must earn their promotion. We should not use “MPA” to promote people. We should not use long service as basis for promotion. If you decided not to improve yourself to convince us that you are active as a professional. I don’t see why you should be promoted,” he said.

He said dormant teachers who don’t make use of CPD activities should be sanctioned, adding that” If there are licenses and there are no consequences, the license is useless”.