Gendered experiences of teaching in poor rural areas of Ghana

The low presence of female teachers serving in schools in deprived rural areas is one of the main constraints militating against girls' access and achievement in basic education in Ghana. Studies suggest that low self-esteem among girls is a key factor preventing them from attaining higher levels of education, which can be enhanced through more gender sensitive teaching methods, and the presence of female teachers as role models. This paper investigates the reasons why the majority of Ghanaian teachers avoid –if they can - postings to rural deprived areas and why girls, in particular, are not entering the teaching profession. The study adopts a predominantly qualitative approach, exploring the perceptions of primary stakeholders involved in basic education, including female teachers living in deprived rural areas, girls at upper primary and secondary levels of education and community members. Districts with the lowest percentage of female teachers were selected for the study – where, also, the lowest percentage of girls enter and remain in the basic school system. The paper suggests reasons why Ghanaian girls continue to miss the opportunity to be taught by female role models and why they do not opt to become teachers themselves

Chemical synthesis and biological evaluation of potential anti-cancer agents based on the azinomycins.

Azinomycins A 1 and B 2 isolated from the culture broths of Streptomyces griseofuscus S42227, exhibit potent in vitro cytotoxic activity and significant in vivo antitumour activity. The compounds contain two electrophilic functional groups - an epoxide and an aziridine residue - that react with nucleophilic sites in duplex DNA to form cross-links at 5'-dGNT and 5'-dGNC sequences. Although the aziridine functionality is required for cross-linking, the azinomycin metabolite (2S,3S)-3,4- epoxy-2-(3-methoxy-5-methyl-1-naphthoyloxy)-3-methylbutanamide containing an intact epoxide but devoid of the 1-aza-bicyclo[3.1.0]hexane ring system retains significant biological activity (IC50 in P388 murine leukaemia = 0.0012 μg/ml) comparable to agents such as cisplatin and mitomycin C. The natural product possesses (2S, 3S) stereochemistry. All the four diastereoisomers of 3,4-epoxy-2-(3- methoxy-5-methyl-l-naphthoyloxy)-3-methylbutanamide were synthesised to evaluate how the nature of stereochemistry influences cytotoxicity and DNA binding ability. The synthesis involved Sharpless asymmetric dihydroxylation of benzyl 3- methylbut-2-enoate using AD-mix-α or AD-mix-β to give a diol with (R) or (S) stereochemistry respectively. The (R) and (S) diols were converted into the four stereoisomers of benzyl 3,4-epoxy-2-hydroxy-3-methylbutanoate, coupled to the chromophore ethyl 3-methoxy-5-methyl-1-naphthoic acid and further converted to the azinomycin analogue (2S,3S)-3 and its isomers. These compounds together with other analogues containing modifications to the chromophore were investigated for cytotoxic activity. Their mode of action was investigated by studying their effect on the electrophoretic mobility of supercoiled plasmid DNA. Analogues with DNA cross-linking ability were designed and synthesised from 1-(2-aminoethyl)-piperidin-3-ol and 3,4-epoxy-2-(3-methoxy-5-methyl-1-naphthoyloxy)-3-methylbutanoic acid involving Boc-protection of the terminal primary amine, mesylation of the secondary hydroxyl group and transformation of this functionality to the chloro compound. Subsequent deprotection of the Boc-group and coupling to the left hand portion gave a series of piperidine-based analogues. These compounds were tested in the NCI 60 cell line panel and their mode of binding investigated using agarose gel DNA cross- linking and unwinding assays. Totally synthetic analogues with properties useful in the design of bioreductive and biooxidative prodrugs were synthesised by coupling the piperidine analogue 124 or the allylic alcohol 29 to the naphthoic acid chloride 94

A genealogical history of Cape Coast stool families

Cape Coast was one of the most politically and socially significant towns in West Africa. Between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries, it was one of the main trading emporia on the West African coast. By the early twentieth century Cape Coast had developed into the centre of the West African proto-nationalist movement. Longstanding trading, familial and social connections with Europe, had created a social infrastructure that nurtured political activity. Throughout the period of establishment of permanent European settlements, there was increasing indigenous conflict between fte Fante, (an immigrant group who favoured systems of matrilineal inheritance) and the native EfUtU, who maintained patrilineal systems of lineage. By the eighteenth century, the mercantile success of the Fante gave their families and institutions a disproportionate amount of power within Cape Coast. As Cape Coast grew in size and influence, the two systems of lineage created independent and competing histories which legitimised their respective claims to jurisdiction of the town. Over generations the histories supported by the two lineages diverged to a point where they could no longer be reconciled. The political differences of the two lineages served to reinforce the opposition they held in their histories, which in turn fuelled their vehement support for their separate customs and institutions. Toward the end of nineteenth century, as the church's influence grew and British law became increasingly accepted, the stool ceased to be the sole source of indigenous reaction to colonial and Asante encroachments. The stool's relative loss of power to the British had been exacerbated by an extended interregnum at the end of the nineteenth century and the continuance of lineage disputes between the stool families. From within the Fante section of the stool family, several individuals stepped forward to voice the opinions of the town. Although such men could justify their roles through their genealogical links to the stool, they chose not to. In the first two decades of the twentieth century the political agenda of certain local politicians broadened beyond the bounds of Cape Coast, and then beyond the bounds of the colony. The weakness of the Cape Coast stool and a catastrophic downturn in trade pushed the town into recession. Cape Coast never recovered A major stool dispute enquiry in 1916, underlined how obscure and contradictory the stool history had become. It was only at that point that people realised that the demise of the stool history ran parallel to the decay of the extended stool family. The stool families' cohesion was inextricably linked to the general acceptance of specific homogenising genealogical accounts of stool history. As the history became obscured by time, so the stool family went into decline

The financing and outcomes of education in Ghana

In 1987, the Government of Ghana embarked on a set of educational reforms which culminated in the reduction of pre-tertiary education from 17 to 12 years and the introduction of measures to improve access, equity and quality at all levels of the educational system. The reforms focused primarily on basic education, which had undergone a decade of decline in quality, but higher levels of education were also given some attention. The reforms were launched at a time of a severe economic downturn – the economy had posted three successive years of negative growth – and a diminished capacity of government to finance development. In response, donors became increasingly involved in the provision of finance and technical assistance. As new modalities of aid began to be established, technical and financial assistance was provided to the government for both the preparation and implementation of the reforms. Over the course of the reforms, total donor assistance is estimated at between US$1.5 billion and US$2.0 billion. As the economy began to recover substantially from its malaise of the 1980s, the government's educationsector expenditure, as a share of GDP, increased from 1.4 per cent in 1987 to 5.7 per cent in 2006, albeit remaining lower than the 6.4 per cent recorded in 1976. This study documents a mixed record of implementation and outcomes of the reforms, with some indicators showing highly uneven improvements over two decades. As regards primary enrolments, for example, the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) increased from 76 in 1987 to 79 in 1991, but fell back again to 73 by 1997. By 2001, the ratio had recovered to 80 but then slid to 78 by the 2003/2004 academic year. Participation in basic education, which comprises both primary and junior secondary schooling, remained “free and compulsory” over the period. The introduction of capitation grants for schools in September 2005 reduced direct costs to households by replacing the various levies that schools imposed on parents for extra-curricular activities. This led to a 17 per cent increase in primary enrolments nationwide (with GER rising to 86) in 2005/6. This increase in school enrolments, while desirable in terms of moving the country towards meeting its objective of providing universal basic education for all Ghanaian children of school-going age, was followed, predictably, by a decline in education quality as the provision of additional teachers, facilities, and logistics lagged behind the capitation grant. A fresh set of educational reforms, scheduled to commence in September 2007, is intended to address these problems. Issues of funding adequacy, coordination and sustainability of donor financing for these reforms, however, remain largely unresolved – especially as donor disbursements in recent years have fallen short of commitments

Aid and donor partnerships in Ghana's education sector, 1987-2007: a critical review of the literature and progress

This literature review provides the reader with some insights into the historic relationships of donor partnerships within Ghana's basic education and skills development sub-sectors. The review looks at the evolution of these partnerships over the years and the various mechanisms and types of development assistance

Youth citizenship, national unity and poverty alleviation: East and West African approaches to the education of a new generation

Youth citizenship is now on the international agenda. This paper explores what that concept might mean in the context of two African nations: Kenya and Ghana. Post independence, both countries focused on rethinking the colonial concept of citizenship in line with their political-cultural traditions, providing education for all youth and to encouraging new notions of national citizenship. Programmes for civic education were established that have been reshaped over the last fifty years. These citizenship education programmes display the tension between different political goals of national unity, economic progress and the promotion of human rights, working with diversity, and encouraging collective responsibility and individual development. The aim is to use the education of the citizen to encourage civic engagement although there is evidence that these programmes might not, for a variety of reasons, engage all young people into the nation building project. The paper considers evidence from a wide range of documentary and social scientific sources to open debate about how to encourage young people's citizenship within the project of poverty alleviation

Synthesis and in vitro Bioactivity of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Conjugates of Combretastatin A-4

Combretastatin A-4 (CA-4) (1) is a plant-derived anticancer agent binding to the tubulin colchicine site. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) are readily taken up by cancer cells and have been used to improve cell targeting. In the present study, four CA-4-PUFA conjugates were synthesized by coupling combretastatin A-4 (1) with several polyunsaturated fatty acids. The conjugates (2a-d) were characterized using spectroscopic methods. Their cytotoxicity was evaluated against human breast cancer cells (MCF-7) and the inhibition of tubulin polymerization was determined in vitro. All conjugates influenced tubulin polymerization with the arachidonic acid conjugate (2c) displaying cytotoxicity similar in potency to the natural product CA-4 (1)

Caffeine affects the biological responses of human hematopoietic cells of myeloid lineage via downregulation of the mTOR pathway and xanthine oxidase activity

Correction of human myeloid cell function is crucial for the prevention of inflammatory and allergic reactions as well as leukaemia progression. Caffeine, a naturally occurring food component, is known to display anti-inflammatory effects which have previously been ascribed largely to its inhibitory actions on phosphodiesterase. However, more recent studies suggest an additional role in affecting the activity of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), a master regulator of myeloid cell translational pathways, although detailed molecular events underlying its mode of action have not been elucidated. Here, we report the cellular uptake of caffeine, without metabolisation, by healthy and malignant hematopoietic myeloid cells including monocytes, basophils and primary acute myeloid leukaemia mononuclear blasts. Unmodified caffeine downregulated mTOR signalling, which affected glycolysis and the release of pro-inflammatory/pro-angiogenic cytokines as well as other inflammatory mediators. In monocytes, the effects of caffeine were potentiated by its ability to inhibit xanthine oxidase, an enzyme which plays a central role in human purine catabolism by generating uric acid. In basophils, caffeine also increased intracellular cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) levels which further enhanced its inhibitory action on mTOR. These results demonstrate an important mode of pharmacological action of caffeine with potentially wide-ranging therapeutic impact for treating non-infectious disorders of the human immune system, where it could be applied directly to inflammatory cells