ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Implementation of Guidance Services in Senior High Schools in Ho Municipality, Ghana

The most important outcome of a guidance and counselling programme is desirable change in students, such as improved school attendance, better study habits, and better scholastic achievement, fewer scholastic failures, lower dropout rate, better educational planning, and better home-school relations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the implementation of guidance services in senior high schools in Ho the Municipality. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. A sample size of 376 students and 21 counsellors from 7 senior high schools in the Ho Municipality was selected using the multistage sampling procedure comprising proportional stratified sampling, purposive sampling and systematic sampling procedures were used. Data was collected using researcher-made questionnaire with reliability coefficient of was 0.83 and 0.80 for students and counsellors questionnaires respectively. Frequency counts and percentages were used to analyze the five research questions stated for the study. The findings revealed that guidance and counselling units were available even though the facilities were inadequate and the rooms were not well furbished. Again, orientation and counselling services were the most common guidance and counselling services while referral and evaluation services were the least common guidance and counselling services provided in the senior high schools in the Ho Municipality. The headmaster/mistress, housemaster/mistress, class teachers and chaplain were all involved in the provision of guidance and counselling services. Furthermore, it was found that the professional counsellors were comparatively better than the non-professionals in terms of adherence to the right practices. It was recommended that a clear national policy for Guidance and Counselling services in Senior High Schools with adequate funding, allocation of time and role definition of counsellors.

Source: UCC
The implementation of human resource information system: the case of Ghana commercial bank limited

In recent years, Information Systems (IS) have been deployed by organisations for achieving efficiency, effectiveness, enhancing quality and gaining competitive advantage. Ghana Commercial Bank has had challenging moments and difficult times in implementing a successful Human Resource Information System (HRIS) in recent years. The study examines the information needs for the organisation and problems associated with HRIS implementations. Critical factors that needed to be considered were highlighted and some examples of failed and successful implementations in some organisations also cited. The study also examines how the software can be acquired. Primary data for the study were collected through the administration of questionnaires to General managers, Human resource staff, Area managers, Branch managers and clerical staff. The information collected was analysed using descriptive statistics. Also, the study used secondary data mainly from published sources, Bank records and the internet where applicable. The findings indicate problems such as lack of management support, inadequate funding, and low staff involvement in the previous implementation processes. Based on the findings and conclusions it is recommended that management should be committed, and that there should also be a Project management committee which would supervise a project team made up of selected members of relevant departments identified in the needs analysis so as to ensure a successful HRIS implementation in the Bank.

Source: UCC
Implementation Of International Financial Reporting Standards For Small And Medium Enterprises In Ghana: Prospects And Challenges

The study assessed the implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards for Small and Medium Enterprises in Ghana. Precisely, the study ascertained factors influencing the implementation of IFRS for SMEs; identified the extent of implementation of IFRS for SMEs and examined the challenges associated with the implementation of IFRS for SMEs in Ghana. Primary data was sourced through questionnaire administered to 230 firms licensed from the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana. Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) version 21 was used to process the study data. The study employed explanatory research design. The main findings of the study were that IFRS for SMEs implementations enable SMEs to obtain financial assistance from financial institutions, improve their financial reporting and enhance SMEs financial reporting transparency. Also, the study found that audit firms often implement IFRS for SMEs on their financial statement presentation, statement of financial position, income statement, among others. The study shows that the implementation of IFRS for SMEs in Ghana is characterized with high compliance cost, lack of skilled personnel, lack of clarity of expressions among others. Hence, it was recommended that the management of audit firms in Ghana should start raising awareness among SMEs partners, managers and finance teams about the benefits of IFRS implementation. Again, the IFRS for SMEs implementation in Ghana should be tailored to specific needs of each business. Finally, the management of audit firms should offer training workshops to build a strong foundation for successful IFRS for SMEs implementation.

Source: UCC
The implementation of international public sector accounting standards in Liberia: analysis of the benefits and challenges

This study evaluates the main factors influencing the implementation of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) in Liberia. The study adopted a survey design to collect data using a five-point Likert scale questionnaire administered on a sample of 100 Accountants, and internal and external auditors selected from public accounting and audit firms, the General Auditing Commission, government departments and related public sector entities within the Montserrado County of the Republic of Liberia. The research data was analysed using descriptive statistics, and the hypotheses were formulated and tested using analysis of variance (ANOVA) at a 5% significance level. The results show that IPSAS application in Liberia improves the quality and reliability of government accounting information, aligns government financial accounting with best international standards, stimulates Public-Private sectors partnerships, and increases government accountability and transparency within the Liberian economy. The results also show that lack of IPSAS experts, conflict between IPSAS and existing laws, and high cost of transition from existing accounting practices to IPSAS represent threats to realising the full benefits of IPSAS. Hence, the paper calls for political buy-in through moral suasion among government officials. High level of political commitment is expected to ease stakeholders’ efforts at removing the associated bottlenecks to IPSAS implementation.

Source: UCC
Implementation of Public Private Partnerships Projects in Ghana: a Survey of Public Private Partnerships Based in Cape Coast

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to establish the determinants of private sector participation in the implementation of public private partnerships projects in Ghana focusing such partnerships that exist in Cape Coast. The study sought to draw evidence from 68 employees from the study area. The study quantitative in nature and adopted a self-administered questionnaire as the main research instrument. The results from the survey were analysed with the help of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS v26.0) such as the Pearson correlation coefficient and regression analysis. The collected research data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study found that private sector participation in public private partnerships in Cape Coast are greatly affected by the huge capital outlay, risk and risk management as well as timeliness in government funds and that delay in systems, length of project cycle greatly influences private sector participation in public-private partnerships in Cape Coast. The study concluded that funding had the greatest influence on private sector participation in PPPs followed by government policies then technological requirements then project period while had the ease of doing business then least effect on the private sector participation in PPPs. The study recommends that management should ensure that Contracting Authorities are adequately funded to undertake relevant studies for effective implementation of PPPs, that government should promote the transparency in the different phases of Public-Private-Partnership projects through a legislative action and combat corruption and that government should also foster the private participation in Public-Private-Partnership projects.

Source: UCC
The implementation of school-based assessment in keea District in central region of Ghana

The study examined the implementation of School Based Assessment in KEEA district in Central Region. The quota sampling procedure was used to select 200 basic school teachers in ten basic schools for the study. Five research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. Questionnaire was used for data collection for the study. The Cronbach’s coefficient alpha for the questionnaire was 0.85. The results showed that to a great extent, teachers agreed that, they have knowledge about School Based Assessment in carrying out periodic intervals for the purpose of improving the overall performance of students. Teachers also reported positive attitude towards the application of School Based Assessment guidelines in schools. It was found that no significant difference existed among the length of service of teachers with respects to the application of SBA. It is recommended that public senior high school teachers are given timely in-service training in order to be abreast with contemporary issues on SBA such as the tasks involved it. Additionally, periodical in-service training and workshops be given to teachers even though they have positive attitude towards the application of SBA guidelines. Furthermore, Ghana Education Service and stakeholders should allocate funds for workshops, seminars for teachers on challenges of SBA.

Source: UCC
The Implementation of the Basic School English Curriculum: The Case of the Cape Coast Metropolis in Ghana

The English language curriculum for primary schools in Ghana spells out the various aspects, topics and sub topics that teachers must teach the child within a specified time. The syllabus again specifies the various topics and sub topics that should be taught in an integrated manner so as to enhance meaningful learning. For this meaningful learning to take place, the teacher should be knowledgeable in the subject with regards to approaches, techniques and skills that will help the learner achieve a great deal in the learning of the subject.This study focused on how English language is implemented in the Cape Coast Metropolis of Ghana. The population for the study was all the 477 basic school teachers within the metropolis. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 8 schools from each of the 6 circuits in the metropolis. In each selected school, all primary 1 to 6 teachers were automatically selected for the study. In all, 288 teachers formed the sample for the study. 12 teachers were again randomly selected to have their lessons observed after which they were interviewed based on their teaching. The study found out that teachers within the metropolis encounter so many pedagogical challenges and so are not able to implement the curriculum well.

Source: UCC
Implementation of the entrepreneurship skills in public technical insitutes in the Central and Western regions of G

The purpose of the study was to find out the extent to which the entrepreneurship skills training (EST) course was being implemented in public technical institutes in the Central and Western Regions of Ghana. The descriptive survey was used for the study and two sets of questionnaires were used to collect data for the study. The purposive and random sampling methods were used to select 204 respondents. Tables, frequencies, percentages and weighted mean scores were used to analyze and present data. The main results of the study are that majorities (79%) of the EST teachers are professionally trained teachers but 56% of them lacked skills and knowledge in entrepreneurship. There are adequate classrooms and furniture in the institutes but teaching and learning materials are inadequate for both teachers and students. Most of the recommended teaching methods are strategies for the course are not used by teachers. However, both teachers and students had a clear understanding of the purpose and objectives of the EST syllabus. The study revealed that there was unsuccessful implementation of the EST course based on fidelity approach to the study. These results have prompted the recommendation of a number of recommendations to help promote effective implementation of the course. The important recommendations are that periodic in-service training and workshops should be organized for the teachers and also more EST trainers’ guide and reference materials for the course should be provided.

Source: UCC
Implementation of the Human Capital Development Strategies for Employees in the Publicly-Funded Universities in Ghana: Myth or Reality

The seeming inadequate implementation of human capital development strategies has been a major challenge facing public universities in Ghana. The study was therefore intended to investigate the implementation of the human capital development strategies. The mixed-methods research design, was used to collect and analyse the views of the respondents in this study. Data were collected from 291 teaching staff and 63 administrative senior members who were selected through the multi-stage sampling technique from a population of 4,282. The purposive sampling technique was used to select 42 key informants comprising Provosts, Deans, Head of Human Resource and Head of Finance in the universities for the study. Data were collected through the use of interview schedule and an interview guide. The data analysis was done using the SPSS (Version 20) software. The Chi-square test was used to examine the associations between the human capital development strategies and the organisational factors. Key informants interviews and documentary analysis were used to substantiate the findings. The study found that top management’s support and allocation of resources have positive associations with human capital development strategy implementation. It was concluded that strategy implementation in the publicly-funded universities is a reality as seen in the support by top management and the allocation of finance and other resources projected in their strategic plans. However, there are limits to the achievement of the reality due to funding inadequacies. It was recommended that the publicly-funded universities must diversify their mode of income generation to resource the implementation of their human capital development strategies.

Source: UCC
Implementation of the School Performance Improvement Plan in Ghana: What lessons can be learned?

This study investigated the implementation of the School Performance Improvement Plan (SPIP) through the Capitation Grant (CG) scheme introduced by the Government of Ghana in the 2004/2005 academic year for basic schools. The scheme was introduced to abolish all forms of fees paid by pupils in basic schools with the aim of improving access and enhancing the quality of education. The study, which was conducted in 2016 used the interpretive qualitative approach to obtain data from 48 teachers and 8 head teachers from 8 basic schools in one of the largest Municipalities in the Central Region of Ghana. The participants for the study were selected by simple random sampling from five circuits in the Municipality. Interviews were held with the head teachers in all the 8 schools while 8 focus group discussions were held with groups of 6 teachers in all the schools. The findings show that head teachers involved all stakeholders such as the Parent Teacher Association (PTA), School Management Committee (SMC) and teachers in preparing the SPIP to ensure transparency. Furthermore, the SPIP preparation ensured that schools budgeted all items they would need. However, lukewarm attitude on the part of some SMC/PTA members and some teachers towards the preparation of SPIP, the bureaucratic nature of accessing the CG, exorbitant fees charged by the Municipal Education Office and lack of transparency on the part of some head teachers in the disbursement of CG were some of the challenges that emerged. The study also found that delay in disbursing CG to schools affected the purchase of resources for teaching and learning. Recommendations for the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service have been suggested.

Source: UCC
Implementation of the social studies programme in teacher training colleges in Ghana: An evaluation

This is an evaluative study of the implementation of the programme of instruction developed for social studies in the teacher training colleges (TTCs) of Ghana. Data obtained through interviews with principals, questionnaires administered to and discussions held with tutors and students as well as field observation have been combined with material from documentary sources. A conceptual framework put forward for the project emphasizes an ‘illumino-process’ evaluation of a curriculum which is implemented from fidelity and adaptation perspectives as opposed to approaches which, in tune with the dominant conventional evaluation model, stress the extent of achievement of objectives in assessing the worth of an instructional programme. The study gives background information on the historical development of social studies as a subject in the Ghanaian school system; provides some perspectives on the nature of social studies; and conceptualizes implementation evaluation. From this review, the curricular and pedagogical requirements implied in the nature of the TTC social studies programme are isolated and combined with the recommendations by the designers of the programme to serve as the criteria for evaluating the process of implementation. There is strong evidence to suggest that the characteristics of the social studies programme were fairly clear to both tutors and students and that they regarded all the components of the programme as important. Data also shows, conclusively, that the principals, tutors and students involved in the study had favourable attitudes toward the teaching of social studies in the TTCs. However, the professional and academic backgrounds of the tutors were not found to be supportive of the implementation of the programme. Consequently, some important methods recommended for teaching social studies were rarely used by the tutors. The implementation was also found to be hindered by non-availability and/or inadequacy of requisite instructional resources and facilities as well as insufficiency of time allotted to teaching the subject. The study demonstrates that most of the problems that besetted the implementation of the programme had their roots in inadequate pre-implementation preparations. There is therefore a need to take care of this deficiency in future implementation of curricula.

Source: UCC
Implementing information management in construction: establishing problems, concepts and practice

Information management practice falls under various themes: vision and policy, change implementation, alignment of strategies to information technology (IT), business process re-engineering, the review of new systems and IT infrastructure. It has been found from exploratory case studies in the construction industry that the current management of information is characterized by systems in which: i) information exchange between project parties is limited to paper, a medium in which retrieval is very slow and inef cient; ii) functional departments maintain their own data structured to suit their particular needs; iii) most information searching and transfer between project parties and clients are paper based, providing constant source of delays; iv) no ef cient interfaces exist between departmental systems to access information electronically; and v) the impact of IT investment to date has been limited. These characteristics can be rst traced to the general lack of coherent management policy and vision on information management. Also, although construction is a distinctly collaborative business environment, for historical, cultural and legal reasons, there is no desire to consider seriously the use of collaborative IT tools. Thirdly, although there is a degree of knowledge of business process evaluation and improvement techniques such as business process re-engineering (BPR), it appears there is less con dence for management to adopt such tools in its drive to solve information management problems. Finally, the lack of progress in adopting IT to widely improve communication is related to the fact that until now stand-alone departmental systems have been the norm. Above all, the culture of the industry dictates that each function maintains total independence in all aspects including information retrieval and exchange. The result is that experience of implementing corporate IT systems is lacking and it is clearly affecting the ability to examine the potential of emerging IT or appraise current infrastructure.

Source: UCC
Implementing international financial reporting standard for small and medium enterprises in Ghana: Problems and prospects

SMEs have come to accept the importance of accounting information harmonization in order to remain in today’s business environment. In 2009, the IASB developed and published the IFRS for SMEs in response to the need for a high quality internationally comparable and transparent financial information. In January 2012, the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana directed the use of IFRS for SMEs in Ghana for reporting periods beginning 2013. However, there are widespread reports of non-compliance regarding the 2013 financial reports which resulted in the extension of the compliance period to 2015 by the Institute (ICAG, 2014). The result indicate that Eighty Five (85%) of the sampled entities prepare financial statements. However, most of these financial statements are prepared in compliance with the Ghana National Accounting Standards and others with the full IFRS. The implication of this finding is that, internationally, there is no demand on SMEs to prepare financial reports for international users hence no compliance regarding the directive by ICAG regarding 2015 period.It was recommended that there should be a continuous education, sensitisation, and communication to stakeholders of issues associated with IFRS for SMEs should commence in earnest. Also A rigorous IFRS/IFRS for SMEs capacity building programme should be embarked upon by all regulatory bodies, firms and training institutions in order to provide the needed manpower for the successful implementation of the IFRS for SMEs.

Source: UCC