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Junior Shapers Africa pays courtesy call on Gender Minister
As part of activities to commemorate this year’s World Day of the Boy Child, Junior Shapers AFRICA – JSA Boys Mentorship, led by its Founding Director, Mrs. Ethel Adjorlolo-Marfo, paid a courtesy call on the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Dr. Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, ahead of the official celebration slated for Friday, May 16, 2025.
The meeting created a platform for selected boys and their teachers to engage the Minister on key issues affecting boys’ development in Ghana.
Discussions centered on raising awareness of boys’ challenges, bridging educational gaps, addressing school drop-out rates, strengthening support systems for boys, and promoting positive masculinity.
The selected boys from Christ the King School and Soul Clinic International School had an interactive discussion with the Minister, during which they emphasized the need for equal access to support systems for boys, the importance of giving boys the same attention and care as girls, and the need to encourage positive masculinity.
They also highlighted the importance of campaigns and workshops aimed at building the capacity of boys.
Additionally, they called on parents to play a pivotal role in the lives of their sons.
JSA is a male child development initiative that has, since its inception, been committed to grooming boys who are equipped to contribute meaningfully to society.
Through advocacy, mentorship programmes, and community engagements, the organization is helping reshape the narrative around boys’ development and their role in achieving gender equality.
Speaking during the engagement, JSA’s Ambassador, Jeremiah Komla Mawunyo, highlighted the importance of recognizing boys’ unique struggles and called for more inclusive approaches to child development.
In her remarks, Dr. Agnes Naa Momo Lartey expressed the Ministry’s commitment to supporting initiatives that promote the welfare of both boys and girls. She emphasized the Ministry’s ongoing mentorship and empowerment programmes and assured the group of continued partnership in advancing gender equality and youth development.
Present at the meeting were the Chief Director of the Ministry, Dr. Afisah Zakariah, and the Director of the Department of Gender, Madam Faustina Acheampong, who both reaffirmed the Ministry’s support for such meaningful engagements.
The visit also featured a presentation of an advocacy petition and a renewed call on parents to play more active roles in the upbringing of their sons.
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Minister for Education leads monitoring visit to BECE Centres
As part of efforts to encourage candidates writing the 2025 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), the Minister for Education, Haruna Iddrissu has led a government delegation to the 5 Garrison Education Centre and Emmause Cluster of Schools earlier today in Accra.
The visit aimed at monitoring the conduct of the examination, interacting with candidates, and offering words of motivation.
The minister urged the students to remain focused, confident, and determined, encouraging them to do their best to make themselves and the nation proud.
Accompanying the Education minister were the Minister for Defence, Edward Omane Boamah; Deputy Minister for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs and Member of Parliament for La Dadekotopon, Rita Naa Odoley Sowah and the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Prof. Ernest Davis.
The rest included the Chief Director of the Ministry of Education, Mrs. Maamle Andrews; and the Municipal Chief Executive for La Dadekotopon, Alfredos Nii Anyetei.
Other dignitaries present also reiterated government’s commitment to educational excellence and the holistic development of every Ghanaian child.
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Interior Minister calls for correctional reform as Prisons Service graduates New Officers
Speaking at the Passing-Out Parade of Recruit Course 125 at Ankaful Prison Officers’ Training School in the Central Region, the Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak has emphasized the need for correctional reform in Ghana, highlighting the government’s commitment to transforming the Prisons Service into a modern correctional facility that focuses on rehabilitation, reformation and reintegration.
He noted that Government remains committed to expanding vocational training, educational programmes and productive inmate enterprises that reinforce rehabilitation, reformation and reintegration.
The minister pointed out that correctional facilities must become centers of reform, not just detention.
According to him, “is not an act of charity but a strategic investment in national security and human capital. When we empower an inmate with employable skills, we reduce the opportunity for that inmate to re-offend. Rehabilitation and reformation do not occur in isolation but must be linked to purposeful activity.”
To give practical effect to this policy, Muntaka Mohamed-Mubarak announced that Government will scale up support for prison-based ventures, saying that entures such as carpentry, tailoring, agriculture, and industrial operations, including bottled water production, will be central to a sustainable, self-reliant correctional economy.
The Minister also directed all institutions under the Ministry for the Interior to prioritise the purchase of bottled water and toilet rolls produced by the Ghana Prisons Service.
This, he said, will not only reduce the financial burden on the state but also generate revenue and promote inmates’ productivity.
He reassured the leadership and personnel of the Ghana Prisons Service of the Government’s unwavering support, emphasizing that the commitment goes beyond improving logistics and infrastructure to reforming the very foundation of correctional practice in Ghana.
Muntaka Mubarak urged the new officers to serve with integrity, compassion, and professionalism, and assured them that their actions would reflect the high standards of the Service and the trust the nation has placed in them.
