Concerns Raised On 2018 Independence Day Awards

Thirty selected students from the 10 regions of the country were on Tuesday, March 6, presented with the President’s Independence Day Awards for academic excellence in the 2017, BECE. The students performed better than their peers in their final basic education examination. It is unfortunate there was controversy from the Northern Region following a petition brought against a female student, which resulted in the withholding of the award. This is where many have raised concern about how transparent the selection is even though the Regional Director has explained the circumstances that led to the choice of the eventual awardee Abubakari Hanifa. Indeed, to avoid future occurrences of such unfortunate situation to ensure the credibility and acceptability of the awardees and based purely on merit, one would not hesitate but agree with the Director General of the GES, Professor Kwasi Opoku Amankwa, to consider handing over the selection of the awardees to the West African Examination Council which over the years select the overall best West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) candidates from member countries.

Aside this hitch, the awards were well deserved as six students who excelled in subject areas such as Science, Mathematics, Visual Arts, Integrated Science, General Science and Pre-Technical, also received awards. This year’s awards also witnessed an innovation with four students with special needs (visually and hearing impairment) attracting Presidential attention and Special Awards. It is important to recall that the President’s Independence Day Awards, since its inception in 1993, has been providing scholarships each year to 20 young brilliant students between the ages of 14 and 19 ( a boy and a girl) from the ten regions of Ghana. The awardees are selected based on their exceptional performances in the BECE as well as other extra-curricular activities. The objectives among others are to recognise and reward academic excellence, promote participation in co-curricular activities and reward exemplary conduct and good moral behaviour. Since winners from the 216 districts are also interviewed at the regional level leading to the selection of best students in the ten regions, stakeholders must ensure absolute transparency and fairness during the selection process to make the awards credible and acceptable to all. Those who attempt to circumvent the selection process to favour any individual candidate should be exposed and sanctioned by the Ghana Education Service, GES, to ensure the awards are not cheapened for parochial interest to become a dent on the presidency’s image.

BY: DAN OSMAN MWIN, HEAD OF PUBLIC RELATIONS, MINISTRY OF EDUCATION.

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