A heavy rainstorm has hit Nikyinikyi a suburb of Derma in the Tano South District of the Brong Ahafo Region destroying life and properties. The storm which hit the town was described by many as very strong and disastrous which rendered some of the inhabitants' homeless, devastated and others also hospitalized.
An eye witness, Mr. Kwesi Manu chose to describe the storm as "TARZAN". He said the rain started to fall heavily the previous day and continued till the next morning, only to found out that the rain has caused more harm than good to the people of Nikyinikyi. Mr. Manu said while it was raining heavy thunder and lightning was experienced with heavy rainstorm which ripped off people's roofs causing the inhabitants to flee their homes to seek for shelter elsewhere
An incident recorded after the rains as told by Collins Brokwa revealed that the rains started with thunder striking whiles the wind laid countless trees down. He said the thunder was so strong and serious that it caused a house to collapse thereby killing one person.
In an interview with the District Coordinator of the National Disaster and Management Board [NADMO], Mr. Christian Tetteh, he hinted the storm has destroyed about seventy (70) houses and has also rendered some of the inhabitants homeless. He hinted that his office received the news about the death of one person as a result of the heavy rain.
Mr. Tetteh assured the people of government assistance to support the affected families. When the Information crew visited the town it was detected that the lost of properties and life were as a result of lack of use of proper materials and expertise in building houses. These contributory factors were seen to have led to the destruction of these properties by the storm and the heavy wind.
The St. Joseph's College of Education has held its second graduation and award ceremony in the Tano South District of the Brong Ahafo Region, under the theme "Infrastructural Development a Pre-requisite for Quality Tertiary Education".
In a welcome address, the A
cting Principal of St. Joseph's College of Education, Mr. Anthony Agyeman said the occasion has coincided with the celebration
of the 62 years of the school's existence in the District. He congratulated the founding fathers for establishing such a great institution whose vision is to provide Holistic Catholic Teacher Education in the country.
The Principal said, the school's humble beginnings in 1948 have greatly increased over the past years with student enrolment of 805, a combination of 200 females and 605 males. Mr. Anthony Agyemang also disclosed that the present teaching staff strength of the institution stands at 45 and 45 supporting staff.
He stressed that these gallant men and women have worked tirelessly over the years under poor conditions of service to make the college what it is today. He used the occasion to appeal to the government and other partners to improve infrastructural development in the school so as to attract more qualified staff to teach the students to become professional teachers.
The Principal revealed that the graduates are the third batch of Diploma in Basic Education regular students and the first batch of sandwich students. He said the results of both the regular and sandwich students have shown great improvement. Mr. Agyemang disclosed that five (5) regular students were awarded a certificate of 2nd class upper. This Principal said is an improvement over the previous years
He further noted that 45 regular students had 2nd class lower, 146 also 3rd class and the remaining 40 students had pass, giving the percentage of 92.2% pass. Mr. Anthony Agyemang further disclosed that for the sandwich programme, 51students had 2nd class upper, 267 had 2nd class lower ,whiles 280 had 3rd class and 117 had pass, giving a percentage of 97.3% pass. He therefore congratulated the tutors and the graduantes for such achievement.
He thanked the government for providing the college with a modern auditorium, a science block, a classroom block, a library and vehicles for safety and comfort of the staff and the students. Mr. Agyemang therefore appealed to the government to build more dormitories to enable the college to organize more programmes concurrently and maximized intake of students.
In a speech read by the National Director of Education, Mr. B.K. Mantey on behalf of the Minister for Education, Hon. Tetteh Enyo, he said sixty-two years of the institution's existence have had about thousands of men and women of academic and professional excellence who have passed through the corridors of the college and are contributing their quota towards the development of the country as teachers and administrators
This he said should be a shining example to the graduates to maintain the high level of discipline, hard work and sacrifice which are essential for quality teacher education. The Minister congratulated the graduants for becoming professional teachers. Mr. Tetteh Enyo promised that the government will continue to supply basic infrastructure to the college to make transition of tertiary status a reality.
The Minister hinted that about four hundred and fifty thousand Ghana cedis have been allocated to the college to help realize its theme for the celebration. Hon.Tetteh Enyo commended the Catholic Diocese of Goaso, the Tano South District Assembly a
nd other partners for the supply of equipments and facilities in support with government efforts at providing the needed infrastructure for quality teacher education.
He charged the students and the graduants to continue to offer an integral and holistic teacher education to ensure a better Ghana. The Chairman for the occasion, Sir K.G. Fosuahene Mensah Banahene, also urged the graduants to inculcate in the pupils they would be teaching the good morals and teachings they have received from the college. He therefore encouraged them to join the old JOSCOdians Association so as to fully participate in the development of the college.
The Chairman therefore congratulated the Principal and his staff for awarding benevolent people in the District. Dignitaries such as Nana Fosu Gyeabour Akoto II, Bechemhene, Bishop Peter K. Atuahene, Mr. Matthew Addai and Mr. Tony Atwereboandah were awarded for their various contributions to the development of the college.
The Tano South District version of the celebration of the world’s day against Child Labour has been held at Masin a suburb of Bechem, the district capital.The celebration took the form of a rally with school children parading through the Principal streets of the town before the commencement of the programme
In a speech to outline the purpose of the celebration and to throw more light on the form of child labour, the Tano South District Director of the department of Social Welfare, Mr. Abdulai Stephen Dapaah described child labour as a work that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children, thus depriving them of school, by way of obliging to leave school pre-maturely or by requiring them to combine
school with excessive, long and heavy work.
Mr. Owusu Bediako Appah, the Tano South District Director of the Commission on Human Right and Administrative Justice, who spoke on the Rights of children said, children especially in Africa have long and continue to suffer a lot of abuses due to different perceptions. He said there is school of thought which holds that
·“The child must be seen but not to be heard.”
·“The child is seen as a property but not as an individual with rights and responsibilities.”
All these Mr. Appah said stem from the fact that the child must be taken care of.
He cited instances where the right of the child has been abused and said these and many tell the stories of the plight of tens and thousands of children far and near.Mr. Dapaah said a child is a person below 18 years and gave some rights of a child as welfare principle, non-discrimination, parental duty and responsibility, rights to parental property, and right to education.
In protecting children from all forms of abuses, Mr. Dapaah said the District Assembly should protect the welfare of children in the district and also help promote agencies such as DSW, CHRAJ and other partners to investigate issues of children and establish children panels.
Mr. Dapaah described worse form of child labour as all forms of slavery practices such as child trafficking, debt bondage, compulsory labour and recruitment in arm conflict and also gave two forms of worst form of child labour as unconditional and hazardous.
The Tano South District Chief Executive, Hon. Zakari Bukari Anaba in aspeech read on his behalf by Mr. N.N.N. Acheampong, the Non Formal Education Director of the Tano South District said, the International Labour Organisatoion [ILO] launched the first world day against child labour in 2002 as a way to highlight the plight of children.
Hon. Zakari said thousands of girls and boys across Ghana are engaged in work that deprive them of adequate education, health, leisure and basic freedom.Of many childrenout of which more than half per cent are exposed to worst form of child labour such as farming, fishing, mining, and illicit activities such as drug trafficking and prostitution and said many of these children work in appalling conditions as most adults do nothing to save or protect these innocent children from danger or harm.
The District Chief Executive said it was beyond his imagination that even in this modern era children are forced to work in deplorable and often dangerous conditions at a time in their lives when they should be in the classrooms and playgrounds and said this act perpetrates a cycle of poverty that parents, families and nations from reaching their full potentials.Hon. Zakari described the children as future leaders as they would take over from the old and wondered if they are subjected to work that deprives them of better education and proper development, and how society can deal with the repercussion in the near future.
He hinted that the Tano South District Assembly is fortunate to be one of the districts in the country that would benefit from the child labour programme that aims at eliminating all forms of child labour in the country by year 2016, but said the task ahead is huge and there the need to work hard towards its achievement.
The DCE said, combating child labour is truly one of the profound moral challenges of our time and how well the society respond to these challenges are telling measures of how much the society really value children and said “let us stand united in opposition to child labour and recommit ourselves to ending it”.Responses were given to questions and contributions that came from the people who attended that function which was chaired by Nana Yaw Barima, a sub chief of Mansin.
