By Benjamin Teye Larweh, The Nobi Boy In 1995, I completed my basic education at Samlesi Amanga L/A JSS with an aggregate of 08. At the time, it was a remarkable achievement. My result was reportedly the best among the surrounding villages and towns. What makes the achievement even more significant to me is that it took almost 30 years before another student from the area could break that record. But there is another side to that story. Despite obtaining an aggregate of 08, I was refused admission to Pope John’s Secondary School, the school I had hoped to attend. Looking back three decades later, I have come to appreciate that my experience was not merely about one boy missing out on one school. It was a reflection of a much bigger problem in Ghana’s education system: we have often expected children from vastly unequal circumstances to compete as though they started from the same position. They do not. I DID NOT STUDY UNDER THE SAME CONDITIONS Throughout my basic education, there ...
Banks operating in Ghana wrote off GH¢1.23 billion in bad loans in the first half of 2026, representing a 38% increase over the GH¢893 million recorded during the same period in 2025. The increase highlights the continued pressure on banks from customers who have struggled to repay loans, even though overall asset quality in the banking sector has improved. The latest figures, contained in the July 2026 Monetary Policy Report of the Bank of Ghana, show that banks made substantial provisions for loan losses and depreciation during the six-month period. NPL ratio improves Despite the higher loan write-offs, the banking sector recorded a significant improvement in its non-performing loan (NPL) ratio. The industry-wide NPL ratio declined from 23.1% in June 2025 to 16.1% in June 2026. The NPL ratio adjusted for the fully provisioned loan-loss category also fell sharply from 8.5% to 4.6% over the same period. The stock of non-performing loans declined from GH¢20.7 billion in June 2025 ...