Articles by Francis

Technology

Reflections by S.M.A: Rethinking School Placement Crisis

Every year, like clockwork, a familiar national drama unfolds across Ghana. It’s that season of anxious parents, teary-eyed children, long queues at cyber cafés, and countless phone calls to “someone who knows someone”. The Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) – a well-intentioned innovation meant to make senior high school placement fair and efficient – has again thrown thousands of families into turmoil. What should be a celebration of academic progress often turns into heartbreak, confusion, and, for some, despair. The promise and the pain When the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service (GES) introduced the CSSPS in 2005, the idea was brilliant on paper. It aimed to eliminate favouritism, streamline admissions, and make access to senior high education more equitable. Using algorithms to match students’ choices with their performance in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), the system promised transparency and fairness. Nearly two decades later, however, what was meant to bring order has often bred chaos. Every placement season, social media buzzes with desperate appeals from parents whose children have been sent to schools they never chose, sometimes hundreds of kilometres away. Others find their children unplaced altogether – left in limbo, uncertain of their next steps. And as frustration mounts, human ingenuity (and opportunism) sets in. Middlemen and “protocol agents” emerge, offering to “fix” placements for a fee. What was meant to be a clean system has, sadly, become one more avenue for exploitation and corruption. A Parent’s Ordeal Picture this: A mother in Kumasi wakes up at dawn to queue at an internet café with her 15-year-old daughter. They have been there for hours, trying to access the placement portal. The website keeps crashing. When it finally loads, their joy turns to disbelief. The girl, who scored highly in the BECE and chose three top schools in the Ashanti Region, has been placed in a school in a remote district in the Upper East. The mother’s first instinct is to think it’s a mistake. “Maybe they mixed up the names,” she says, her voice cracking. But soon, she realises she is one among thousands facing the same predicament. The family now faces impossible choices – should they send their daughter to a faraway school they can barely afford to visit, or should they scramble to change the placement through unofficial channels? This is not an isolated story. It’s a ritual of frustration that plays out every year in thousands of homes. What’s Really Going Wrong? There is no doubt that the CSSPS has helped expand access and reduce blatant bias in admissions. But its recurring failures suggest deeper systemic weaknesses. Firstly, the algorithm itself is only as good as the data it receives. Many pupils – often through no fault of their own – make poor school choices because they are not properly guided. Teachers and parents may not fully understand how the placement matrix works, leading to unrealistic selections that reduce a student’s chances of being matched. Secondly, infrastructure and connectivity remain major challenges. Every year, the placement portal slows down or crashes under heavy traffic. Parents queue in the heat, clutching printouts and passwords, trying to navigate a system that seems stacked against them. For many rural families, internet access and digital literacy are additional hurdles. Thirdly, the communication gap is glaring. The Ministry and GES often release placements abruptly, without adequate sensitisation or support hotlines. Parents are left to rely on rumours, radio discussions, or social media misinformation. And finally, there’s the human factor – the perception, and sometimes the reality, of manipulation. Some families who can “make calls” or pay “processing fees” seem to secure better outcomes. This perception of backdoor influence undermines trust in what is supposed to be a fair, computerised process. When Technology Lacks Humanity At its core, the placement system is not merely about computers or algorithms. It’s about human lives – young people’s dreams, parents’ sacrifices, and a nation’s hope for its future workforce. We cannot reduce that to a formula on a screen. Technology should be an enabler, not a barrier. Yet, too often, the CSSPS has become a faceless mechanism that alienates those it was meant to serve. A truly human-centred approach would ensure that the system is not just efficient, but empathetic – that behind every “unplaced” student is a real child with aspirations, not a data point to be deleted or transferred. The Emotional Toll The emotional toll on parents is profound. For many families, education is the single greatest investment they can make in their children’s future. Years of toil, savings, and hope culminate in the BECE results. Then comes the placement – the moment of truth. When the outcome feels unfair or arbitrary, it can break spirits. Parents feel betrayed by a system they trusted. Children feel unworthy, even when they performed well. Teachers feel demoralised, seeing bright students demotivated. And amidst the chaos, the public discourse often blames the victims – accusing parents of “chasing big schools” or students of not performing well enough. This blame game distracts from the real issue: a system that, while noble in intent, still lacks compassion and responsiveness. Learning from Others We need not reinvent the wheel. Several countries have faced similar placement dilemmas and found more humane ways to manage them. In the United Kingdom, for instance, while school placement is centralised, parents can appeal decisions through transparent review mechanisms. There are helplines, detailed online guides, and public accountability measures. In Kenya and Rwanda, national placement systems have adopted hybrid models – combining automated allocation with human oversight and strong community support. In both cases, parents receive early orientation on how to select schools realistically based on performance and catchment considerations. Ghana can learn from these best practices – not by copying blindly, but by adapting thoughtfully. Charting a Way Forward So, what can be done to end this yearly heartbreak? Several practical steps could help:Enhanced Guidance and Counselling School selection should not be left to chance. Every basic school should have trained counsellors who guide pupils and parents through the process, explaining the realistic implications of their choices. Early Sensitisation Campaigns The Ministry of Education and GES must launch nationwide education campaigns before and during the selection window. Clear, multilingual communication through radio, TV, and social media will help families understand how the system works. Improved ICT Infrastructure The CSSPS portal should be hosted on robust servers capable of handling national traffic. Collaboration with private sector ICT firms could help improve user experience and reduce downtime. Transparent Appeals Process Introduce an official, time-bound appeals mechanism – easily accessible both online and at district offices. Parents should be able to request a review of placements without resorting to middlemen. Stronger Monitoring and Accountability The GES must ensure that no unauthorised persons or intermediaries interfere in the process. Publicly naming and prosecuting offenders would deter corruption and restore confidence. Incorporate a Human Touch Beyond data, human review panels can help address exceptional cases – such as students with disabilities, single-parent households, or special circumstances – to ensure fairness. A Call for Empathy and Leadership Ultimately, this is not just an administrative issue. It is a moral one. When a nation’s children are made to feel helpless in the face of bureaucracy, we chip away at their faith in public institutions. When parents must beg or bribe to secure what should be their children’s right, we corrode the values of fairness and meritocracy we claim to uphold. We must therefore insist on leadership that not only deploys systems, but also listens to the people those systems are meant to serve. Every stakeholder – from the Ministry to headteachers, from ICT officers to local assemblies – has a role to play in restoring dignity and compassion to this process. In the End, It’s About the Children Let us not forget what this is all about: children who have worked hard and dream big. Every year, we tell them education is the key to success. We owe it to them to ensure the door opens smoothly. Until we fix this recurring problem, the annual placement exercise will remain a national spectacle of frustration – a story of hope meeting heartbreak. But with honesty, transparency, and empathy, Ghana can turn the page. The computer may make the match, but it is the human heart that must make it right. About the Column: “Reflections by S.M.A” offers thoughtful commentary on issues of national concern, exploring the intersection of policy, society, and human values in contemporary Ghana.

2 days ago

Technology

Secure the stream: Protecting creativity in the digital age

If culture is the people of a nation expressing themselves, then cybersecurity is the army that protects its ability to do that. In the modern, digital economy, the one cannot exist without the other. Creativity is culture at the individual level, the artistic urge that drives artists and other citizens to give voice to their personal thoughts, feelings and experiences. When that creativity aggregates, it becomes the shifting, dynamic culture of an entire nation. The conduits of culture This is precious, because in many ways, a nation is its culture. Culture is what distinguishes one nation from another. What is the difference between the countries of East Africa, for instance, many of which share Swahili as a national language? Culture. At the same time, a common language binds nations together through shared cultural reference points. Anglophone, Francophone, Lusophone culture can all be shared and expressed through literature, music, movies, television and, more recently, through streaming, social media, short-form video content. Culture is increasingly digital built and shaped through the online networks that infuse modern society. This is especially true in Africa, where digital connectivity gives people of the continent a practical, affordable means of integrating and expressing themselves. But this digital convenience comes at a price: digital crime, cyber-hacking – the theft of online content. At a time when analogue channels are on the wane, the streaming content environment is becoming infected by crime syndicates engaged in content piracy. Streaming content piracy works by stealing content from legitimate streaming channels and selling it on to users. The criminal syndicates running these operations profit from undermining the business models of established content operators. This poses an existential threat to creative industries, and ultimately, to the survival of culture. In Africa, for instance, where streaming industries are sabotaged by content piracy, their ability to fund suppliers, producers and the creative industry at large can be destroyed. In turn, the ability of these creators to express their own culture is undermined. The business model disappears, and so too does the content that allows people to see themselves reflect in their favourite shows, movies, music and more. In many ways, the very survival of creativity and modern cultural platforms depend on our ability to secure the streaming channels that are now conduits of African culture. Weapons in the piracy war Content pirates currently use three main means of piracy: Circumventing geo-blocking with VPNs (Virtual Private Network) and proxy servers Theft and illicit sharing of session tokens from legitimate customers Finding security vulnerabilities in devices and extracting licence content keys Protecting streams against these threats is a life-or-death battle. If it fails, our culture faces extinction. The local African content and creative industries that have been built up over decades will wither and die. Film and series production, screen talent, scriptwriting, cinematography, sound engineering, broadcast capabilities… all the local industries and skill sets that have been built up around the production of local content are at risk when content piracy is allowed to grow unchecked. Whereas legitimate streaming services invest in these industries, pirate-content syndicates invest nothing, only extracting value through subscriptions and advertising on stolen content. Fortunately, there are initiatives dedicated to securing the streams and the cultural communication they support. Established content platforms like MultiChoice Africa, with its hyperlocal content offerings such as Akwaaba Magic, Africa Magic, Maisha Magic, Showmax, has a close relationship with cybersecurity leader Irdeto. Both organisations are also part of the pan-African Partners Against Piracy coalition. For Irdeto, securing the streams involves equipping its clients with robust geo-location restrictions, developing smart software for concurrent stream management and deploying artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify and report anomalies. At the same time, session-based forensic watermarks can now be embedded into every stream, for rapid identification of pirate producers and users, as well as 24/7 piracy detection and premium user authorisation. These are the weapons at the cutting edge of the war on content piracy. However, the best weapon in this global battle to preserve local culture and the creative economy is for consumers to refuse to consume or condone pirated content. If you encounter suspected content piracy, contact the Partners Against Piracy international hotline on +27 11 289 2684, or email piracy@multichoice.co.za.

2 days ago

Technology

Accra Life: The essential list

Ongoing – Nov 24. When Women Create. A group exhibition curated by Johanes F. Kuwornu Jnr. featuring works by Mary-Jo ‘MJ’ Adjetey, Whitney C. Ernest and Nana Ama Sackey. The show celebrates the power of women’s creativity through painting, digital art, and mixed media. @Tea Baa, La – Accra. Thu Oct 30 – Sun Nov. 2. Accra Cultural Week. Various activities and events, art exhibitions. Appearing Rituals: An Open Lab of Now for Tomorrow. Curated by Allotey Bruce-Konuah and Ato Annan. Rooted in his deep connection to Jamestown, Clottey transforms the unlimited space into a living environment that breathes with the sounds, scents and sights of one of Accra’s most iconic neighbourhoods. @Third Floor Galleria Mall, Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City -Accra. Fri. Nov. 14 – Jan. 2. Art & Soul – Stories we carry. An exhibition on identity, memory, healing & transformation through storytelling. @Dei Centre, Tesano – Accra. Ongoing – Nov. 30. Behind the Curtains. A solo exhibition curated by Samuella Graham (Samo). @Worldfaze Art Practice, Ground Floor, Ogbojo – Accra. Fri. Oct. 31 -Nov. 2. Daily. Pilolo – Street Arts Carnival. Bringing back the lost glory of Adabraka. Health walks & aerobics, family games, quiz competition, sales, bazaar & more. @Wadada Spot, Okai Mensah Lane, Adabraka – Accra. Sun. Nov. 2 – 12:00. Sunday Feast. Celebrate life with the talented Kwanpa Band and your favourite local dishes. @Zen Garden, Labone – Accra. Sun. Nov. 9 – 15:35. Iberoamerican Film Festival. Step into the world of Mexican magical realism. A cinematic journey through silence, memory and the living echoes of the past, based on Juan Rulfo’s legendary novel that inspired Gabriel García Márquez. @Silverbird Cinema, Accra Mall. Contemporary Fri. Oct. 31 – 21:00. The Haunted Garden. Halloween night party, a surreal blend of mysticism and revelry alongside food, music & great vibes. @Zen Garden, Labone – Accra. Fri. Oct. 31 – 20:00. Unhook & Unwind. Celebrating 2 years of juicy goodness and spreading awareness for Breast Cancer Month! Great music, delicious bites and late-night vibes. @80/20 Burger & Fries, East Legon – Accra. Fri. Oct. 31 – 18:00. The Wind Down. Relax in the soulful breeze alongside food, drinks & music. @Onda Beach, Laboma Beach – Accra. Wed. Nov. 5 – 21:00. Havanna Groove. The ultimate house music & hiphop experience mid-week party you’ve been waiting. @Front/Back, Osu – Accra. Thu. Nov. 4 – 20:00. Movie By The Beach. Feel the ocean breeze, taste the flavour and enjoy timeless cinema under the stars. @Afrikana Beach House, La – Accra. Fri. Nov. 5 – Nov. 6. Daily. Tidal Rave. The biggest beach festival, live performances, great vibes, non-stop rave plus lots of food & drinks. @La Palm Royal Beach Hotel, La Accra. Tue. Nov. 4 – 20:30. Palm Wine Music With Kwanpa Band. Serenading you with sweet and indigenous palm wine music. @Zen Garden, Labone – Accra. Wed. Nov. 5 – 20:00. Jazzy Wednesdays. Soulful live jazz tunes with the city’s finest Labanj Jazz Band. @Exhale Lounge, East Legon – Accra. Meetings, workshops & expo Fri. Nov. 1 – Day. GHAT Fair. Ghana’s biggest automobile & transport fair, showcase, connect and grow alongside industry leaders, integrating innovation, safety & sustainability in Ghana’s transport sector. @University of Ghana Sports Stadium, Accra. Thu. Nov. 20 – Nov. 22. International Beauty & Cosmetic Expo. The prime international trade event dedicated to beauty & cosmetics products. @Accra International Conference Centre. Mon. Nov. 24 – 26. Daily. Creatives Connect Afrika. An AFCETA forum and festival on tourism, creatives and cultural industries. @La Palm Royal Beach Hotel, La Accra. Fri. Nov. 14 – 20:00. Nkyinkyim Experience. Nkyinkyim Band live in concert. An unforgettable night of non-stop live in performances from the city’s finest band. National Theatre, Accra. Fri. Nov. 7 – Reggae & Afro-Roots King, Rocky Dawuni, 4-time Grammy Award nominee & Global Ambassador for UNESCO, supported by Highlife Jazz and Rap Father Gyedu-Blay Ambolley, Rap Doctor Okyeame Kwame & many others are set to shake Accra.

2 days ago

Technology

PJ Vibes: “The conversation that has me looking at yam in a completely untraditional way” – Urban Jungle CEO 

For the past 10 years, Selorm Agudu, Chief Farmer at Urban Jungle Agro Limited, has led a team of some 30 skilled individuals to build a fresh food production, aggregation and distribution enterprise targeted at the local market. Their clients range from the high-end industrial processing houses down to individual homes, with a 5000sqm greenhouse in Konkonuru, Eastern Region and a 6-hectare open field operation in Tafi-Atome in the Volta Region. All proof points for profitable, sustainable, high yield, affordable and healthy fresh food production that Urban Jungle preaches and teaches. But when Farmer Selorm found himself as a panelist on week two of the Gastro Feastival ‘Table of 8’ – “The Food Conversations: From Farm to Feast” weekly podcast series, focused on yam, he discovered that yam – the commonplace but abundant indigenous tuber he knows – can be so much more than just another regular staple. From exquisite cocktails to such desserts as ice cream, Selorm became just as stunned as his fellow panelists to discover how yam’s versatility ranges from enticing beverages to cuisine that are a sheer culinary delight. “I walked away from that hour of discussion totally intrigued at how much more yam can be of use to us. I never thought of yam as having such huge potential in culinary terms; and after seeing what I saw on the show, I’m compelled to look at every other traditional food we have in this country in different ways and reimagine them with different possibilities,” Farmer Agudu intimated. By general consensus, each of panelists concurred that the “Yamarita” cocktail they tasted, one specially created by mixologists from Front/Back Bar, was quite mind-blowing. Everybody absolutely loved it! On the main menu this week was a delectable plate of cheesy yam croquettes with a spicy nunum yoghurt dip and an entrée of roasted cubes of yam and sweet potatoes served with grilled dawadawa chicken steak on a bed of ntroba abomu in PJ’s piquant kobi relish. It was by far the dessert that got everyone most animated, however. It turns out there’s a recipe for making yam into ice cream, and in collaboration with Chefquamz, yours truly cracked it, and presented a version of it with shavings of Bioko Treats prekese infused chocolate! The podcast series’ moderator, Enyonam Manye (The Ghanaian Farmer), couldn’t even find the right words to describe the revelations of the day. As for Ms. Esther Kyerewaa Twumasi of Kosmos Innovation Centre, she was just balled over by the spice and cheese filled croquettes. Both Kojo Aidoo of Front/Back and the Accra Bar Show and Ms. Charity Adupong of Meannan Foods were quite amazed by the innovative menu, as the other panelists – including Mr. Eric Kofi Afornorpe, the current Acting Director of Hotel, Catering and Tourism Training Institute (HOTCATT), who was very visibly thrilled for the new discovery although he said he had tasted yam made into many various dishes at the Asogli and other yam festivals. Mrs. Theresa Ayoade, CEO of events production firm Charterhouse and Convener of the Gastro Feastival, said the festival – which comes off during Farmers’ Day weekend of December 5/6 – “aims to challenge perceptions about our local produce and promote value addition within Ghana’s food and agribusiness sectors.” Converging gastronomes, entrepreneurs, farmers, chef and policy-makers to ignite engaging discourse, the “Table of 8” conversations are recorded at PaJohn’s, yours truly’s, rooftop kitchen terrace where the alchemy of the cuisine takes place. As host, I complete the panel list. “For me,” says Farmer Selorm, “the opportunity being created by the Gastro Feastival ‘Table Of 8’ is a great ‘conversation’ that is going to help us figure out innovative ways of utilising and presenting our traditional foods.”

2 days ago

Technology

Tilly’s Farm contributes to agribusiness growth with Porktober farmer training

Tilly’s Farm is deepening its investment in Ghana’s pork value chain through capacity building and strategic partnerships aimed at boosting local production and supporting smallholder pig farmers. As part of this commitment, the company hosted the 2025 Porktober Farmer Training on October 9, 2025, bringing together 30 pig farmers from across the country for a day of hands-on learning, designed to enhance productivity, profitability and sustainability in pig farming. The training, held in collaboration with DanBred Africa, Stanbic Bank Ghana and the Pig Farmers Association of Ghana, focused on practical topics – including pig genetics, farm economics and access to financial solutions tailored for agribusiness growth. “Our growth as a business is tied to the growth of others,” said Maxwell Hammond, Co-founder and Managing Director of Tilly’s Farm. “By equipping farmers with the right tools, knowledge and partnerships, we are helping bridge Ghana’s meat production deficit and strengthening the future of local agriculture.” Participants benefitted from expert sessions led by Jurgens Reynders of DanBred Africa, who shared strategies on improving herd genetics and operational efficiency. “At DanBred, we believe that knowledge transfer is the cornerstone of sustainable livestock production,” Mr. Reynders noted. “Supporting Ghanaian farmers with world-class breeding and management systems will help raise standards across the industry.” Financial inclusion was also a central focus of the day. Mr. Samuel Okang Boye, Head of Agriculture at Stanbic Bank Ghana, highlighted tailored financial products designed to meet the needs of pig farmers. “Agriculture remains a critical pillar of Ghana’s economy,” he said. “Stanbic is committed to providing accessible financing that enables farmers to expand operations, adopt modern technologies and increase output sustainably.” Stakeholders from the Animal Research Institute and the Pig Farmers Association of Ghana also joined the discussions, demonstrating the importance of collaboration in advancing the pork sector. The training concluded with the signature Tilly’s Farm experience—shared stories, networking and a taste of locally produced ‘Kpakpo shito’ sausages and fresh pork pies. “Tilly’s Farm continues to demonstrate that empowering farmers is key to achieving national food security,” Mr. Hammond added. “When local producers thrive, the entire value chain becomes stronger.”

2 days ago

Technology

MICE CAFE: New leadership for tourism umbrella body, GHATOF

“This virtue is not mine alone,” President-elect of the Ghana Tourism Federation (GHATOF), Mr. Seth Yeboah Ocran, has said after polling an overwhelming 68 out of 72 votes cast at the 2025 GHATOF Executive Council Elections held last Wednesday in Accra. Indeed, Mr. Ocran asserts that: “It is a triumph of every tour operator, hotelier, car rental operator, traditional and indigenous caterer, event vendor, forex bureau operator, tour guide, chef, craftsman, cultural ambassador, transport company, travel agent, community tourism entrepreneur, creative artist and every worker who passionately works to keeps Ghana’s tourism alive,”. Paying tribute to the outgoing stewards for their dedication and hard work in steering GHATOF to its current stage, the incoming President assured members that his administration would build on that legacy through “innovation, resilience and collaboration.”

2 days ago

Technology

MICE CAFE: A spectacular evening of music set to raise funds for PAH Museum

As has become an annual tradition in the lead-up to the realisation of the monumental institution of culture, all roads lead to the Accra International Conference Centre on November 7, for an extraordinary evening of music and culture, as the capital gathers to raise funds for the commencement of the physical construction of the Pan African Heritage Museum complex. The special concert brings together three of Ghana’s most celebrated artists, including Grammy-nominated reggae and Afrobeat sensation, Rocky Dawuni; legendary Highlife pioneer, Gyedu-Blay Ambolley; and The Rap Doctor, Okyeame Kwame himself, for a night dedicated to preserving our rich African heritage. All proceeds go to support the Pan African Heritage Museum’s mission to build a world-class institution celebrating African culture and history. Contact 0591188663 to secure your spot.

2 days ago