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We were denied CSSPS data to check public basic schools placement quota – Eduwatch
Executive Director of Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch), Kofi Asare, says the Ghana Education Service and the Ministry of Education had denied an RTI request from his outfit to access data on school placements from the Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS).
According to him, following some petitions from concerned stakeholders including parents and schools heads about issues emerging from the CSSPS, Eduwatch had initiated the RTI request to assess the effectiveness and equity of same.
“We have also been concerned at Eduwatch about the proper functioning of the CSSPS because we appreciate why the system was birthed, and so when we received concerns from parents and school authorities and all that including government agencies about issues emerging from the angle of effectiveness and equity, then we were concerned,” he said.
The purpose of the request he said was to ascertain whether government was indeed living up to its promise of allocating 30% of school placements in Category A schools to students from public basic schools.
The government had initiated the quota allocation system to provide equity in Ghana’s education system; however, concerns have been raised about its effectiveness.
“So we actually requested from the CSSPS, we made an RTI request to the Director General of the GES requesting for the placement data to enable us undertake an analysis. Our concern was actually the 30% allocation for public basic students.
“We wanted to be sure the extent to which we have been given public basic school students their 30% in the category A schools. It was an equity analysis. It was denied. We petitioned the Ministry, it was denied. As I speak, we are still engaging the RTI on the next step after this was denied. We won’t play around this time,” he said.
According to Kofi Asare, access to such data would help Eduwatch “to conduct research and advise government on how best to improve its own policy’s effectiveness through transparency.”
Meanwhile, in the latest JoyNews-Fourth Estate documentary, ‘School Placement for Sale’, it has been discovered that some persons have been collecting bribes from parents who want their children to be placed in Category A schools.
So far, eight persons exposed in the documentary have been arrested by the police.
According to editor-in-chief at Fourth Estate, Manasseh Azure, the suspects have been charged and arraigned.
He, however, stated that two others are at large. -www.myjoyonline.com
President John Dramani Mahama has commissioned four career diplomats as ambassador-designates to represent Ghana in four countries.
The commissioning ceremony took place on Friday, October 16, 2026.
The new envoys are Her Excellency Nana Antwiwaa Dodoo, Ambassador-Designate to Angola; His Excellency Louis Kwame Obeng, Ambassador-Designate to Qatar; Her Excellency Evelyn Korantemaa Ofosu-Amable, Ambassador-Designate to Israel; and His Excellency Jedidiah Reuben Adogla, Permanent Representative-Designate to Switzerland.
President Mahama charged them to advance Ghana’s national interests through strategic partnerships, economic diplomacy, investment mobilization, and expanded access to international markets.
He said Ghana’s diplomatic engagements must deliver tangible economic benefits, create jobs, and strengthen the country’s standing on the international stage.
The four envoys are career diplomats with over 27 years of experience.
On behalf of her colleagues, Her Excellency Nana Antwiwaa Dodoo thanked the President for the confidence reposed in them and pledged their commitment to emulate his leadership and deliver on the mandate given to them.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
The professor who spends his days exploring the intricacies of African languages found himself at the centre of a different kind of lesson on Friday, October 2, 2026. 
This time, there were no lecture notes, academic arguments or university classrooms. Instead, there was the weight of tradition, the rhythm of a community celebration and the solemnity of an oath at a royal palace.
Professor Ọbádélé Kambon, a full Professor of African Linguistics at the University of Ghana, was enstooled as Apagyahene and Sunsum Ɔsahene of Akuapem Mampong in the Eastern Region in a ceremony that brought academia and traditional authority together.
For the professor, the occasion was more than a new title. It was a moment that connected his academic interests in African languages and indigenous knowledge with the living traditions of an Akan community.
The day’s events unfolded through a series of customary observances. Kambon was first taken to the compounds of the Ɔkyeamehene and Gyasehene, where the preparations for his installation continued.
Then came the application of hyire, the white kaolin powder associated with traditional rites.
With the customary proceedings underway, the new chief was lifted onto the shoulders of celebrants and carried along the main thoroughfare of Akuapem Mampong.
The procession transformed the streets into a public stage for a ceremony rooted in the community’s traditional institutions.
There was something striking about the image, a university professor, accustomed to the measured language of academic discourse, being carried through the town in a display of traditional recognition.
Yet the celebration was not complete with the procession.
A ram was sacrificed at the Mamponghene’s compound before Kambon was taken to the palace, to swear the oath associated with his new offices.
The ceremony brought him formally into his roles as Apagyahene and Sunsum Ɔsahene.
Beyond the colourful proceedings, the titles themselves carry layers of historical meaning.
Kambon in his research explores the historical connections between Apagya and Akan political and military organisation.
Accounts cited in his work linked Apagya to an asafo, or military company, while historical writing traces an Apagya stool in Asante to the reign of Opoku Ware I in the eighteenth century.
These historical associations offer a glimpse into the institutions that have shaped Akan society over generations, although they do not automatically define the precise responsibilities of the office in Akuapem Mampong.
Kambon’s own professional life reflects a similar interest in preserving and examining African knowledge.
His work encompasses Akan language structure, naming practices across the Black world, proverbs and indigenous intellectual traditions.
Through Abibitumi, the platform he founded, he also promotes language learning, scholarship and cultural engagement.
But tradition was only one part of the story that day.
When the formal ceremony gave way to a reception, the occasion expanded into a celebration of three milestones: Kambon’s enstoolment, his promotion to full professor and his daughter Ama’s admission to the University of Ghana.
The gathering therefore carried a personal significance that went beyond the honours bestowed on one man. 
It celebrated professional advancement, the continuation of family aspirations and a connection to cultural heritage.
For a father, seeing a daughter gain admission to the same university where he holds a distinguished academic position offered another reason to celebrate.
For the professor, the moment placed family achievement alongside his own professional and traditional milestones.
Kambon had already established a place in the traditional life of Akuapem Mampɔn through an earlier installation as Banmuhene Kyidɔmhene, recorded in 2017.
His latest enstoolment adds another chapter to that relationship.
In Akuapem Mampɔn, the day brought together the university, the palace and the family table in one celebration. And for Kambon, the journey from the lecture room to the traditional procession showed how scholarship, cultural responsibility and family achievement could converge in a single memorable occasion.
By Enoch Ntiamoah Siaw
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