ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Challenges of, and Coping Strategies Employed by, Students with Visual Impairments in South Eastern States of Nigeria

The aim of this research was to identify the major challenges and preferred coping strategies of students with visual impairment in regular secondary schools in the South-Eastern States of Nigeria. The descriptive survey method was employed for the study with 120 students with visual impairment who were drawn using simple random and purposive sampling techniques. Two research questions were generated while four hypotheses were tested at 0.5 level of significance. A questionnaire was used to collect data. Mean and rank order and t-test statistical tools were used to analyze the collected data. The findings revealed that students with visual impairment in regular secondary schools faced challenges such as negative cultural/traditional belief system and obstruction by many architectural barriers among others. The preferred coping strategies were: ignoring comments and attitudes directed at them by the society; and relying on tap-recorded materials for daily transmission. Age and gender did not influence the challenges but affected the preferred coping strategies. The researchers recommend that stakeholders consider addressing these challenges through advocacy, education and counselling; class teachers should provide lasting experiences to all students irrespective of age and gender, and both male and female students should be exposed to different coping strategies that may suit their peculiar needs.

Source: UCC
Challenges Students With Visual Impairments Encounter In Inclusive Senior High Schools In Ghana

Issues still prevent the smooth implementation of the inclusive education policy in all schools, even though Ghana has been doing so on a pilot basis since the 2003–2004 school year. This study explored the school challenges facing students with visual impairment (SVI) at Okuapeman Senior High School. A qualitative case study design was used. An interview guide was used to collect the data from 20 participants. The interview data was analysed using thematic analysis by Braun and Clarke (2019). As found in this study, the challenges ranges from academic, social, physical environmental and attitudinal challenges. Particularly for SVI, these challenges hinder them from having access to the physical environment, enjoying socialisation that comes with campus life and negatively impacting their studies due to lack of learning materials. It is recommended that management of the school and parents appeal for financial support from government and benevolent individuals so that they can resource the school resource center with braille materials, computers and other learning materials that SVI need to ease difficulties faced by them in the school.

Source: UCC
Challenges teachers encounter in teaching literature in selected senior high schools in northern region of ghana

Literature in English is a highly beneficial academic subject to both teachers and students in schools. However, some students and teachers seem not to be interested in literature as they think they do not have the complex skill needed to read literary texts. Thus, students’ general performance in the subject over the years is far from encouraging. Therefore, this study was conducted to find out the challenges teachers encounter in teaching literature-in English in some selected senior high schools in the Northern Region of Ghana. The study aimed at soliciting teachers’ views towards the teaching of literature. The researcher took a descriptive technique to answering the study's questions. A case study which adopted both qualitative and quantitative methods was used in analyzing the data. The target group was all Literature-in-English / English Language teachers from the selected schools. The population size of the teachers comprised fourteen (14) teachers of Literature-in-English in ZAM SHS, eleven (11) teachers of Literature-in-English in YAM SHS and 10 teachers of Literature-in- English in TAM SHS. In sum, the total population of teachers for the study was thirty-five (35) teachers. Data was collected through questionnaires, interviews and observation of classroom lessons. Interestingly, one of the key findings in this study was that Literature in English teachers are not well prepared or trained to teach the subject. They teach literature not because they are experts, but probably because there are few trained teachers to handle it. The study also found out that students' overall lack of English language abilities makes it difficult for them to comprehend literature-in English. Teachers were also of the view that literature lessons in senior high schools are mostly taught using the teacher-centered method. It was recommended that the teaching of English language in basic schools should be strengthened and strictly enforced. Reading skills should be effectively taught and schools should be encouraged to form reading clubs. Similarly, Ministry of Education (MOE), Ghana Education Service (GES) and Heads of Schools should organize periodic workshops to train in-service English Language and Literature in English teachers on how to tackle possible challenges they might encounter while teaching literature.

Source: UCC
Challenges that headmasters face in managing community Senior High Schools in the Keta Municipality

This study was designed to ascertain the challenges that the community day schools in the Keta Municipality of Ghana are faced with by their management teams. There were nine (9) SHSs in the Keta Municipality but attention was focused on only five (5) schools namely Anlo Afiadenyigba, Anlo Awomefia, Atiavi, Abor and Tsiame. Using the Keta Municipality as a case study, all the Headmasters with their assistants, Departmental Heads and the Board Chairmen amounting to forty (40) were selected to serve as the accessible population who responded to the questionnaire administered to them.Responses collected from the respondents in the form of data were aggregated and converted into percentages to know what obtains for the various schools used for the study. The study revealed that learning resources were not sufficient. The schools were understaffed. Government funding of schools was insufficient as parents were not willing to pay their wards’ fees. On the basis of the findings of this study, the following recommendations are made towards improving upon the challenges that Headmasters face in school management within the Keta Municipality. The requisite learning resources meant for effective teaching and learning should be frequently provided by the Ghana Education Service. Teaching and non-teaching personnel should be adequately provided for the schools whenever the need arises. Government funding to the schools must be adequately and regularly made available to the schools.

Source: UCC
Challenges that heads face in the administration of basic private schools in Ablekuma South, Accra

This study sought to find out the challenges facing administrators of basic private schools in Ghana and identify administrative strategies of responding positively to such challenges. It specifically identified challenges faced in the administration and management of basic private schools in areas of managing: people, learning resources, finance and school-community relationship, the strategies that administrators used in handling these challenges, and the various forms of support given by Government and community to private basic schools in the country.The study was descriptive in nature and involved 92 respondents made-up of 27 headteachers and 65 teachers. Two sets of structured questionnaires were developed for the study. Data gathered were analysed using the SPSS (version 17.0) and Microsoft Office Excel (2007). Frequencies, simple percentages and graphs were used to present data gathered.It emerged that the main challenges of staff retention were personal development, poor remuneration and job security. Also, all Grade C and few Grade B schools had problems in getting pupils for admissions. Payment of School fees was identified as the most significant source of funds to the basic private schools.It was recommended that public-private partnership would significantly reduce many of these challenges, and result in the provision of effective and efficient quality teaching and learning for pupils in these basic private schools.

Source: UCC
Challenges to implementing national comprehensive sexuality education curricula in low- and middle-income countries: Case studies of Ghana, Kenya, Peru and Guatemala

chool-based comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) can help adolescents achieve their full potential and realize their sexual and reproductive health and rights. This is particularly pressing in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where high rates of unintended pregnancy and STIs among adolescents can limit countries’ ability to capitalize on the demographic dividend. While many LMICs have developed CSE curricula, their full implementation is often hindered by challenges around program planning and roll-out at the national and local level. A better understanding of these barriers, and similarities and differences across countries, can help devise strategies to improve implementation; yet few studies have examined these barriers. This paper analyzes the challenges to the implementation of national CSE curricula in four LMICs: Ghana, Kenya, Peru and Guatemala. It presents qualitative findings from in-depth interviews with central and local government officials, civil society representatives, and community level stakeholders ranging from religious leaders to youth representatives. Qualitative findings are complemented by quantitative results from surveys of principals, teachers who teach CSE topics, and students aged 15–17 in a representative sample of 60–80 secondary schools distributed across three regions in each country, for a total of around 3000 students per country. Challenges encountered were strikingly similar across countries. Program planning-related challenges included insufficient and piecemeal funding for CSE; lack of coordination of the various efforts by central and local government, NGOs and development partners; and inadequate systems for monitoring and evaluating teachers and students on CSE. Curriculum implementation-related challenges included inadequate weight given to CSE when integrated into other subjects, insufficient adaptation of the curriculum to local contexts, and limited stakeholder participation in curriculum development. While challenges were similar across countries, the strategies used to overcome them were different, and offer useful lessons to improve implementation for these and other low- and middle-income countries facing similar challenges

Source: UCC
Change efforts in the context of church culture: A study of Church of Pentecost headquarters

The main objective of the study was to explore the extent to which the culture of the Church of Pentecost influenced the outcomes of change efforts of the Church during the period 1991-2009. Through an exploratory case study research design, 55 interview respondents and seven focus group discussion participants provided the data. Three embedded change efforts undertaken during the period 1991-2009 by the Church were used as the basis for data collection. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software was used to analyse the data. The key findings were: the causes of the change efforts were the need for the Church to produce skilled staff and increase productivity in the light of changing environment; for majority of the staff, consultation as part of the change efforts process needed improvement because little consultation was seen during the change efforts; values of the Church, such as respect for authority and humility, facilitated the success of the change efforts; and the Church’s hierarchical power culture dictated the pace of the change efforts. The main conclusion was that the processes in the change efforts limited involvement. However, collaboration between management and staff, and modification of values, such as respect for authority, could help leverage values towards successful change efforts in future change efforts. A major recommendation is that processes adopted in future change efforts should be context-specific and encourage the involvement of the staff because the input of staff can help to improve processes in the change efforts.

Source: UCC
Change management and employee performance at Central University, Ghana

This study sought to understand organisational change management at Central University. The specific objectives were; to determine the drivers of change at the Central University; to determine the nature of resistance to change at the Central University; assess the impact of organisational change on employee performance; and lastly to assess strategies adopted to manage change at Central University The study was purely survey which adopted a quantitative methodology. The design of the study was descriptive, with a sample of 186 of which 149 responded representing 80.12%. The study adopted a simple random technique. The most important driver of change at CU is advances in technology followed by competition. The results of the study also pointed out that, the most common reason for resistance to change is lack of communicating change and absence of employee participation in implementing change. The results indicated that organisational change has a positive influence on employee performance. On the final objective, the results showed that the most commonly adopted strategy to manage the implementation of change at Central University is communication, followed by clear definition of the need for change. The study recommends that the management of CU should be sensitive to the different forms in which resistance can be expressed and manage employees’ perception of the impact of change. Management of the University should clearly define the vision of change, set the right scope and incorporate it into the objective.

Source: UCC
Changes in bulk and surface properties of two biochar types during 12 months of field ageing in two West-African soils

Abstract The study investigated the changes in properties of rice husk and corn cob biochars applied in urban agricultural field soils in Tamale (northern Ghana) and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), respectively. The biochars were both pyrolyzed at 500 °C with a batch reactor. Fine polyethylene mesh (litter bags) filled with 10 g of each type of biochar were buried at 20 cm depth in urban fields trials with a 3 x 2 factorial layout replicated 4 times. Factor 1 involved soil management practices at 3 levels: (1) farmers’ practice (FP), (2) 20 t biochar ha-1 and (3) control (no biochar). The second factor was time (duration) at two levels (6 and 12 months). Aged and fresh biochars were analyzed for volatile matter (VM), ash and fixed carbon (FC) contents, pH, effective cation exchange capacity (ECEC), and total surface acidity (Sa) and basicity (Sb). Dissolved organic carbon contents were determined sequentially by cold (cDOC) and hot water extractions (hDOC), respectively and aromaticities of cold water DOC (cSUVA) and hot water DOC (hSUVA) were determined. There was no significant interaction effect of soil management practices and time on measured ageing biochar properties. Time significantly affected most biochar ageing properties except Sa and Sb in rice husk biochar and ECEC in corn cob biochars at 6 months of exposure. In both biochars, Ash content, Fixed carbon (FC), cDOC, hDOC, cSUVA and hSUVA increased whilst pH and volatile matter contents decreased significantly. The hDOC was 2-3 times higher than cDOC contents for both biochars. Aromaticity of DOC contents of aged rice husk biochar exposed to soil management practices and time in the experimental site in Tamale showed persistence with time compared to corn cob biochar exposed in Ouagadougou experimental site. The results imply that rainfall, soil organic matter contents with interplay of soil minerals are key drivers to ageing and sequestration of these biochars and that these forces act at different scales but driven by time

Source: UCC
Changes in rainfall characteristics in Wenchi and Saltpond farming areas of Ghana

Ghana’s economy heavily relies on agriculture, which is predominantly rainfed across its agro-ecological zones. As a result of this, it is vulnerable to rainfall variability, which tends to have a major impact on the industrial and agricultural production sectors of the country. This study investigates the variations occurring across two major farming areas (Wenchi and Saltpond) within the Transition and Coastal Savannah agro-ecological zones of Ghana respectively. Rainfall variations are studied with rainfall data from 1968-2011 from Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet). The rainfall analysis is done over two Climatological Periods (CP), 1968-1989 as CP1 and 1990-2011 as CP2. This study uses two climatic extreme indices as well as rainfall amounts and onset over these two agro-ecological zones to investigate the changes that have occurred in rainfall. The study found that in the Coastal agro-ecological zone, CP1 had a decreasing rainfall trend as compared to CP2 with higher variations in Saltpond. In the Transition agro-ecological zone, Wenchi, CP1 also exhibited a decreasing trend as compared to CP2. In addition, onset of rains in Saltpond mostly occurred in May for CP1 but for CP2, it oscillated between April and May. For Wenchi, onset of rains was in March for CP1 and predominantly April for CP2. In going forward, farmers in these agro-ecological zones should be supported to practice effective adaptation and mitigation measures so as to improve their yields in this challenging climate

Source: UCC
Changes in the Traditional Marriage Among the Fantes: A Study in Mankesim, Ghana

The Fantes are a group of people located in the Central Region of Ghana. It is one of the largest Akan groups in Ghana with their traditional Headquarters at Mankesim. Early encounters between the Fantes and Europeans brought new religious and educational ideas to the group, which in turn altered Fante customs and traditions, including marriage. To ensure that these native yet significant traditions survived in this age of technology and modernity, it is essential that their histories be preserved in the light of the changes that have taken place. Using Ethnographic research design, data was obtained from queen mothers, chiefs, family heads and opinion leaders/ elderly people of Mankesim; employing interview and focused group discussion as the main data collection procedure. The study revealed that in the indigenous traditional marriage, the groom and his family were allowed to bring anything they deemed befitting for a marriage ceremony unlike now that a list of items is handed over to the groom's family to present at the ceremony. Due to migration, there is little or no background enquires of the prospective spouse family; it is no longer mandatory to have the ceremony at the brides’ family house as practiced. Some items presented for the ceremony included velvet/silk cloths, amonsei, tsri ahoma, tsri nsa, palm wine among others, have been replaced with modern items like lingeries, weave-on/hair extensions, suitcases printed fabrics like GTP, foreign drinks like whiskey, wine, just to mention a few. In line with the findings, in line with the findings, it was concluded that high levels of education, urbanization, innovation as well as religion has affected traditional norms and practices.

Source: UCC
Changing Beach Dynamics of Cape Coast-Elmina Coastline in Ghana

This study investigates the changes in beach dynamics along the Cape Coast-Elmina coastline in Ghana from 1991 to 2020 and their impacts on local communities. The research uses a mixed-methods approach, combining remote sensing, fieldwork, community surveys, and policy analysis to understand beach erosion and its causes. Satellite imagery is used to track changes in shoreline position and beach extent, while sediment grain size measurements provide insight into alterations in beach characteristics. Community surveys, particularly among residents and fisherfolk, reveal the disruptive effects of these changes on livelihoods, including impacts on fishing operations, tourism infrastructure, and increased exposure to coastal hazards. The study attributes shoreline recession and beach erosion to a combination of natural factors such as sea level rise and wave action, as well as human activities including sand mining and coastal development. An evaluation of national coastal management policies reveals shortcomings in their implementation and enforcement, particularly in addressing these complex, interrelated issues. The research emphasizes the need for more inclusive, community-driven coastal management strategies that incorporate indigenous knowledge and local involvement. It advocates for more comprehensive, context-specific policies to promote coastal adaptation and resilience, thereby addressing the region's multifaceted challenges posed by beach dynamics. This study provides valuable evidence for improving coastal governance and safeguarding both the environment and local livelihoods

Source: UCC
The changing college radio model of broadcasting in Ghana

There is a considerable history of campus radio that is under-developed and analsed as part of the larger communit media movement. This paper situates an account of the history and recent developments at one campus radio service in Ghana within an international perspective. Inspired by the notions of participatory communication theory and the ideal public sphere, the paper recounts how a restrictive ownership policy directive issued by the National Communication Authorit (NCA) of Ghana led to further commercialisation and bureaucratisation of ATL FM, a college radio at the University of Cape Coast. Through a longitudinal ethnographic research, this paper argues that these changes have weakened the prevailing power dynamics and excluded students and lecturers from participating in the core activities of campus radio broadcasting. The surrender of ATL FM to the universit wide bureaucratic entanglements and vigorous commercial interests has also empowered the professional management team with distorted incentives rather than the ideals of a communit public sphere rooted in active participation and deliberation

Source: UCC
Changing Dynamics of Coastal Lagoons: A Case Study of the Fosu and the Essei Lagoons in Ghana

Coastal lagoons globally suffer from persistent environmental degradation due to myriad anthropogenic and natural factors. Hence management of lagoons is most effective when it is based on a sound scientific understanding of the causes such as the distribution of physico-chemical and biodiversity parameters. Using Fosu and Essei Lagoons in Ghana as a case, this study investigated the changing dynamics of coastal lagoons in the central employed to assess the ecological status of the lagoons, using results of field investigations, stakeholder in-depth interviews, laboratory analyses, GIS and remote sensing techniques. The results revealed a wide range of factors affecting the changing dynamics of the physical features of the Fosu and the Essei Lagoons. Natural and anthropogenic factors included sewage discharges from domestic and industrial areas, urban surface and agricultural run-offs and from the action of sea waves and tides. There were also over-laps in the management of the lagoons. A bottom-up approach to coastal lagoons management in Ghana has therefore been recommended. Traditional authorities have been given the power to regulate or manage water resources in collaboration with other stakeholders. In this case, scientific knowledge and local knowledge should be applied simultaneously or synergistically to ensure sustainable use and management of the lagoons.

Source: UCC