The Tamale Metropolitan Directorate of the Ghana Education Service (G.E.S) has appealed to the government of Japan through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (jiCA), to revive its exchange and technical support programs with the staff of the directorate.
It may be recalled that in 2012, Japan sent some staff of the directorate to learn skills in the area of science, mathematics and Japanese culture. This came after several Japanese citizens worked as volunteers in some rural communities in Tamale.
The Tamale metro GES directorate’s relationship with the JICA, started in 1989, about 25 years ago when some Japan volunteers visited the directorate with the sole aim of providing a specific expertise in different areas of education based on the pressing needs of the G.E.S. Since then, the Tamale metro GES offices has received 15 Japanese volunteers, most of whom were females, to support in the intervention area for two years.
The JICA chief representative in Ghana, Mr Koji Makino visited the GES metro office in Tamale where the assistant director in charge of personnel and NGO activities, Mr Issahaku Abdul Latif commended JICA volunteers for their tremendous support in education delivery in particular. Mr. Makino’s visit was part of his three-day tour of JICA-funded projects in the northern region.
The volunteers, according to Mr Abdul Latif, were able to influence the Ghanaian teacher’s behavior by inculcating the habit of using teaching and learning methodologies which hitherto were not common among teachers in the Tamale metropolis.
But for the JICA computer literate volunteers’ presence in Ghana, who compiled a host of things for the GES. A volunteer at the directorate conducted research on IT infrastructure in the metropolis and was able to collate data of all IT laboratories, non-functioning and functioning computers and the types of computers distributed by the education directorate and the assembly in the Tamale metropolis.
Mr. Makino reiterated the Japan government’s commitment to supporting education, health, infrastructure, governance and private sector development in Ghana. Mr Makino was impressed by testimonies of officials of the G.E.S on the contribution and impact of the JICA volunteers.
He announced that 84 volunteers have been dispatched to Ghana. He also said the JICA had constructed eight unit classroom blocks at the cost of 217,239 million U. S. dollars. Fifteen, he said are in the northern region with two focusing on sports, specifically baseball, because according to him, the government of Ghana is showing some commitment in the sports sector.
A JICA volunteer, Miss Yukari, who is currently teaching at Nanton Zuo primary school in Tamale was recognized and awarded the best national volunteer teacher award.The award winning Miss Yukari composed a song using multiplication table for pupils at Nanton Zuo to defuse their minds that mathematics is a difficult subject.
She told Zaa News that she enjoys the model adopted and is hopeful that the children will have a good mathematics foundation to enable them to make good grades at the Basic Education Certificate Examination.