ECONOMY - COMMERCE

Commerce is an important activity in the district. About 15% of the population is engaged in commerce as a major occupation. This has been facilitated by the strategic position of the District capital which is located midway on the Sunyani Kumasi highway. Most of the towns along this highway enjoy high commercial activities due to the high influx of traders from Accra, Kumasi, Sunyani and Techiman. The major marketing centres in the district are Duayaw Nkwanta, Yamfo, Bomaa and Adrobaa. Market facilities (stores and stalls) have been provided through the European Union/Government of Ghana Micro-Projects Programme as well as the World Bank /Government of Ghana Village Infrastructure Project with the support of the District Assembly.The major Commercial activities in the District include marketing of food stuffs, Agricultural inputs, second hand clothing, footwear, Provision, medical and agro chemical selling, general spare parts, beverages and toiletries. The major set back of marketing in the district has been high cost of transportation.
© 2006 Tano North District Assembly. All Rights Reserved

HEALTH SECTOR IN THE DISTRICT (TANOSO)

The Ministry of Health is putting in place measures that would compel students in health training institutions to sign bonds to serve for a period of time before they could be on their own. In breach of this contract, there will be penalty that would be subject to review, Mrs. Gladys Fabyan, Deputy Director of Human Resource for Health Development disclosed. Mrs. Fabyan was speaking at the matriculation ceremony for 157 students of the Community Health Nursing Training School at Tanoso in Tano North district of Brong-Ahafo. She noted with regret that most students sought admission to health training institutions “just to find themselves somewhere” only to leave suddenly to the universities and other tertiary institutions later. “These practices do not only obstruct the activities of such institutions but also deny admission to students ready to be community health nurses, since the various community health training institutions do not have the capacity to admit all the students seeking admission”, she stressed. Mrs. Fabyan explained that the Ministry of Health had adopted Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) as the strategy for improving access and equity in the provision of quality basic health services to all residents in the country. She said the Ministry was also making efforts to increase the number of community health nurses and to ensure their retention in the CHPS zones to enable residents to have access to quality health care delivery. Mrs. Josephine Koranteng Asare, Principal, explained that since the inception of the school in 2003 five batches of students had been enrolled but many teething problems had not made it possible to hold matriculation for the previous four batches. She mentioned lack of a school bus, inadequate accommodation and classrooms for the students and inadequate number of computers as some of the problems. Mrs. Asare expressed worry that the current capacity classroom accommodation was 140 students and the number of students was 305. She underscored the need for the creation of an enabling environment for effective teaching and learning to ensure the turning out of a highly motivated group of community health nurses. Mr. Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, Regional Minister, urged the students to pass through the appropriate and established procedures for the resolution of their grievances. He expressed concern about students who were sponsored by municipal and district assemblies but on completion, refused to accept postings to serve under the assemblies.Mr. Baffour-Awuah gave the assurance that the Regional Coordinating Council would continue to support and encourage the growth and development of the school and called for an effective linkage between the school and the Tanoso community.GNA
© 2006 Tano North District Assembly. All Rights Reserved RSS Feeds

Development Projects in Tano North District

Tano North District is one of the 19 Districts in the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana. Duayaw Nkwanta is its administrative capital.
It is bounded on the North and East by the Offinso and on the North-Western by the Sunyani Municipal and the South-Western by Asutifi, Tano South on the Eastern border and Ahafo-Ano North District to the South in the Ashanti region.

EDUCATIONAL SECTOR:

Educational SectorThe provision of adequate educational facilities throughout the district had been a nagging problem to the then Tano District Assembly and continues to be a problem to the new Tano North District Assembly. Although a sizeable percentage of the national annual budget goes into the educational sector, the condition in most schools especially those in the rural areas are in very discouraging state.Basic Education in the district is widespread. For easy and proper management, the Tano North District is divided into four Schools Circuits namely; Bomaa, Yamfo, Terchire and Duayaw Nkwanta. The district has in all a total of one hundred and eighty-one (181) public and private schools made up of Sixty-four (64) kindergarten/nursery schools, Sixty-nine (69) primary schools, Forty-two (42) J.S.S, Five (5) SSS/Technical, Two (2) Training Schools. Out of the one hundred and eighty-one schools in the district, Twenty-eight (ten Kindergarten/Nursery, ten primary, six J.S.S and the two vocational schools) are private institutionsGenerally, enrolments in the schools have seen a tremendous increase over the years especially in the last two years mainly due to the introduction of capitation grants and increase in population. The trend has come with its own challenges of demand for more teachers, classroom accommodation school furniture and logistics for supervision.A survey conducted by a team of educationist categorises the schools in the district into good or bad to a number of criteria presented by GES (Pupils performance, Schools structuring Performance of teacher, accessibility of schools to pupils, pupil-teacher ratio, and accommodation for teachers among others).Teacher PopulationThe average Pupil/Teacher ratio in the district is 1:29, which is, lower than that of the National Pupil/Teacher ratio of 1:35. At least 76% of the teachers at all levels are trained teachers.Educational Support A support programme exclusively for needy or venerable but brilliant students has been in existence since the creation of the district in 2002. This programme is aimed at helping the poor in the district to also have access to education. The number of students benefiting from the programme is indicated in the table below;KEY POLICY GOALS FOR EDUCATIONIncrease access to and participation in education and trainingPromote and expand pre-school education Promote good health and environmental sanitation in Basic and Second Cycle Schools. Improve quality of teaching and learning to enhance pupil/student learning Provide girls with equal opportunities to access full cycle of education Identify challenges of education and design pragmatic approach to address theses challenges For tables refer to pdf file attached.