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Labone SHS thrills guests at 20th Yosakoi festival

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• The Japanese Ambassador speaking at the festival

The Japanese Ambassador speaking at the festival

The Labone Senior High School (SHS) emerged winners of this year’s 20th Japan-Ghana Yosakoi festival held in Accra on Saturday.

The school displayed great flair, confidence and a better understanding of the Japanese culture with their Yosakoi dance and other activities to beat other schools including St. Peter’s SHS, St. Roses SHS and St. Dominic’s SHS to the top prize.

Japanese Ambassador(left) with Akosua Agyapong(middle) and one of the dignitaries at the event
Japanese Ambassador(left) with Akosua Agyapong(middle) and one of the dignitaries at the event

Yosakoi is one of the old­est Japanese dance festivals which had lasted for over 60 years and gained recog­nition in other parts of the world including Ghana.

With the relationship between Ghana and Japan, the festival, spearheaded by the Japan Embassy in Ghana, is held every year as part of efforts to promote cultures between the two countries.

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This year’s event was graced by the Japanese Ambassador to Ghana, Mochizuki Hisanobu and renowned Ghanaian high­life songstress, Akosua Agyepong.

A typical cultural display at the festival
A typical cultural display at the festival

Japanese Reggae sensa­tion, CJ Joe also thrilled the crowd to some scin­tillating Japanese Reggae songs while students also took turns to showcase their skills.

The Ghana Jiu Jiutsu Federation also performed at the festival alongside the Ghana Karate Federation.

A Japanese dance move at the event
A Japanese dance move at the event

Speaking to The Spectator after the event, the Japa­nese Ambassador Mochizuki Hisanobu praised the con­testants for their efforts, adding that the festival was gradually gaining grounds in the country.

He urged all to continue promoting culture because it has the potential to foster unity and progression.

 By Michael D. Abayateye

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Pragyia rider gets 3 months prison term for biting Police Assistant

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Participants at the event

A 24-year-old tricycle (Pragyia) rider, has been jailed three months by the Nkawie Circuit Court in the Atwima Nwabiagya South Municipality of the Ashanti Region for biting a Community Police Assistant (CPA) at Nkawie.

Abdul Aziz pleaded guilty to the charge of negligently causing harm and was convicted on his own plea.

Police Inspector Kwaku Frimpong, prosecuting told the court presided by Mr Robert Addo that, complainants in the case were officers from the Nkawie Divisional Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service.

He said on September 3, at about 8:40am, the complainants led by Chief Inspector Abedi Larbi, were on their official patrol duty to ensure safety at Nkawie township and met the convict, who was in-charge of a Pragya tricycle with registration number M-25-A-3722.

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He explained that, after a careful inspection, it was detected that the convict was without licence and other required documents, so Alhassan Seidu, the CPA, was instructed to lead him to the office for the next action.

On their way to the office, the convict took a different direction, so the CPA directed him to take the right route to the police station, but he disobeyed and attacked the CPA, resulting in a struggle between them.

In the process the convict bit the CPA on the chest, so he shouted for help and some nearby youth rushed to the scene and helped him to arrest the convict.

In his caution statement, he admitted the offence and after further investigations he was charged and brought before the court. –GNA

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Place all 54,985 affected BECE candidates in schools and publish final outcome – NPP urges govt

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The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has urged the government to place all 54,985 candidates affected by the 2026 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) placement exercise in schools and publish the final outcome.

The party says the government must ensure that the affected candidates secure actual school places rather than merely being allowed to access the self-placement portal.

In a statement signed by the Chairman of the NPP Policy Co-ordination Committee, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the party expressed concern about the situation facing the candidates.

The NPP said the government had announced that 53,887 of the affected candidates could use the self-placement system after initially being told that they had not qualified for secondary school.

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It, however, argued that access to the portal did not guarantee that candidates would secure their preferred schools or programmes.

“Ghanaian parents and candidates will judge the resolution of the challenge by one thing only: how many of the original 54,985 are sitting in a classroom, not how many were allowed to open a website,” the statement noted.

The party said the government’s own figures showed that the country had 859,828 declared vacancies for 623,072 BECE candidates.

It explained that the main challenge was the concentration of demand in a small number of highly subscribed schools.

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The NPP noted that 313,283 candidates selected Category A schools as their first choice, while those schools had 76,417 declared vacancies.

It therefore called on the government to explore ways to improve schools with available spaces, including providing teachers, laboratories and better programmes.

The party urged the government to use the 85 private schools participating in the Free SHS programme to absorb candidates who remained without placements.

The NPP further called for clarification of the rule and pass mark used for this year’s placement exercise, saying parents were entitled to know the standard before their children sat the examination.

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It urged the government to take urgent action to ensure that the affected candidates were not left behind in the transition to secondary education.

By: Jacob Aggrey

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