News
Old pupils award teacher for dedicated service
• Mr Nathan Akwada presenting the citation to Mr. Richard Frank Agbemabiase
“A teacher’s reward is in heaven” is a popular African saying but the old pupils from the Togbloku Local Authority Middle School in the Ada East District of the Greater Accra Region, thought rewarding one of their former Teachers on earth was equally necessary.
After over 50 years, the old pupils decided to look for one of their teachers who contributed immensely to making them who they are presently to honour him.
The 78-year-old retiree, Mr. Richard Frank Agbemabiase popularly known as “Countryman” taught in the school for 11 years.
He received an unspecified amount of money, a hamper made up of a cloth, a pair of sandals and a citation echoing the admonishment by the Holy Bible that “whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might…”
The Association led by Mr. Nathan Akwada recalled some fond memories back in the day and how his good training had been helpful to make them disciplined people.
He said looking back on the years under his tutelage, the former pupils had come to the realisation that all what he did was out of love and aimed at moulding them into responsible and useful citizens in future.
“During the years you taught at the school, many of the pupils felt you were hard because of your strict adherence to principle and discipline “ the citation partly read.
He expressed appreciation to Mr. Agbemabiase and commended him for his dedicated service and unwavering efforts in ensuring that the pupils had the best of education.
Mr. Agbemabiase expressed appreciation to the association and said he had taught hundreds of pupils but only a few of them had remembered to show him kindness.
He wished them well and asked them to stay united while encouraging other teachers to do their best while in active service.
From Dzifa Tetteh Tay, Ada.
The Ghana Health Service (GHS) will undertake a nationwide Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination exercise in schools from October to December 2026 to protect eligible girls against cervical cancer and other HPV related diseases.
The exercise, organised in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service (GES) and its partners through the School Health Education Programme (SHEP), will be conducted in two rounds.
The first round is scheduled for October 19 to 23, 2026, while the second will take place from November 30 to December 4, 2026.
In a press release dated October 19, the GHS explained that health workers would visit schools across the country to vaccinate eligible girls aged 9 to 14 who have not yet received the HPV vaccine.
The exercise forms part of efforts to raise awareness about the routine HPV vaccine, increase vaccination uptake and strengthen the country’s routine immunisation programme.
The GHS has called on school authorities, parents, guardians, teachers and community leaders to cooperate with health teams to ensure the successful implementation of the exercise.
The Service reaffirmed its commitment to protecting the health and well-being of Ghanaians, particularly children, through vaccination and other public health interventions.
By: Jacob Aggrey
Vice President Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang has held high-level discussions with organisers of the 2026 Global South Academic Forum in Shanghai, seeking to draw lessons from China’s acclaimed rural revitalisation and poverty reduction drive.
The meeting, led by the Forum Chair, Professor Lu Xinyu, explored practical areas of cooperation and knowledge exchange between Ghana and China, with focus on community-driven development, fisheries and aquaculture, local governance, sports initiatives, and infrastructure development.
According to officials, the engagement is part of a broader effort by the Ghanaian government to study tested development models that can be adapted to the local context to promote inclusive growth, empower local communities, and improve livelihoods across the country.
China’s success in lifting over 800 million people out of poverty through targeted rural policies, investment in agriculture and local infrastructure has become a global reference point for developing nations.
The Vice President’s team says insights from the Forum will help inform policy direction, particularly in strengthening decentralised governance, boosting the fisheries and aquaculture sector, and investing in community-level infrastructure and youth sports development.
Professor Opoku-Agyemang is expected to continue engagements with academic and development institutions while in China.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
