Teachers trainees to do national service

From: Ghana/Daily Graphic          Last Updated: September 28, 2011

Teacher trainees who have completed their studies at the 38 Colleges of Education will undertake national service effective next year, the Executive Director of the National Service Scheme, Mr Vincent Senam Kuagbenu, has stated.

That, he said, followed the upgrade of the Colleges of Education into tertiary status.

Following the accreditation of the 38 Colleges of Education to full tertiary status, graduates from these institutions will from the next service year (2012-2013) to be enrolled on to the Ghana National Service Scheme. Consultations with stakeholders are concluded to pave way for commencement of the process of enrolment, Mr Kuagbenu said at the release of postings of national service persons for the 2011-2012 service years in Accra on Tuesday.

He said the national service for teachers would be undertaken after the teaching practice of the trainees, adding that the national service law mandated persons who had pursued tertiary education to undertake national service.

For the 2011-2012 service years, 60,350 persons out of the 80,586 requests received would be deployed throughout the country. The requests for the persons came from 7,613 organisations and 19,273 schools.

Out of the total request of 45,087 received from educational institutions, a total of 34,015, representing 56 per cent of the total deployment would go to the education sector. Of the figure, 25,094 would go to basic schools, 4,956 to senior high schools and then 2,965 to tertiary institutions.

The scheme received requests totalling 10,837 from the health sector this year. A total of 4,518 personnel comprising doctor of optometry, pharmacists, nurses, medical laboratory technicians as well as other health professionals have been deployed.

Mr Kuagbenu said the NSS had deployed 115 agricultural graduates to work on the schemes agricultural projects, adding that it had also deployed 895 personnel to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. The drive to promote tourism, he said, continued to feature prominently in the scheme's programmes as 251 persons had been deployed to the Ministry of Tourism and the Ghana Tourists Board. One hundred and seventy of the persons have been deployed to the districts as district tourism officers.

A total of 16,801 persons have been deployed to Municipal, Metropolitan and District Assemblies (MMDAs). Out of this number deployed, 180 persons with qualification in planning have been deployed to assist the MMDAs by ensuring proper settlement, planning and controlling the development of slums in towns and cities. In addition, special deployment of 200 persons has also been done to support the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) in the implementation of the House Numbering and Street Naming exercise, he said.

The scheme also received a total of 5,171 requests from the private sector to support its operations. A total of 5,016 persons have been deployed to this sector which includes manufacturing, telecommunication, insurance, banking and finance, among other firms.

Mr Kuagbenu stated further that the national volunteer programme was being streamlined to ensure maximum utilisation of human and financial resources allocated to the programme, and that 5,000 volunteers would be recruited to teach in deprived schools in the three northern regions, Volta, Brong Ahafo and parts of the Central and Western regions.

He said the establishment of regional farms with a total acreage of 2,200 in five other regions was expected to yield over 8,000 metric tonnes of maize this year.

Mr Kuagbenu commended the Chief Justice and the General Legal Council for the measures they had instituted to ensure that newly qualified lawyers and those seeking to pursue professional courses in law produced national service certificates as prerequisite for admission.

Through national service young graduates build skills, knowledge and attitude that raise the aspirations of what they can achieve for themselves and build the deep-rooted motivation to get involved in the strengthening of their communities and country.

I therefore would like to urge service personnel to accept postings to any part of this country as their civic responsibility to mother Ghana. I further wish to emphasise that national service should be seen as a national duty call and not a punishment, he said.