Filth Must Really Be Eradicated!!!!!!

    In Ghana, the situation of filth due to poor sanitation and outbreak of Cholera are significantly high. There is no sign of the cholera outbreak going away soon in the Greater Accra Region, as cases of the disease reported at health facilities increase each day.

       I and many other worried citizens feel this issue is very disturbing and so far it has been estimated that more than 6,000 cholera cases have been reported in the region since its outbreak this year. Regardless all the educational campaigns to sensitize the public to the disease and how to they can avoid contracting it. In my view Accra is a central point of many cultures and as a result is always getting more congested by the day.

        Poor environmental sanitation is, next to poor access to potable water and open drainages, one of the major risk factors supporting the spread of Cholera and other diseases. And we are all aware that cholera is a bacterial disease spread by contaminated water and food if not treated, it can kill in hours. A lot of the cases in the region were happening in the slums, business districts and places where people have poor access to toilet facilities and potable water. People continue to buy food near choked drains and public toilets and that is dangerous. Residents in neighborhoods are hardest hit by cholera often buying from vendors selling food next to overflowing gutters.

    When I walk in the streets of Accra I get amazed at what I find myself in. I know we deserve to acquire and enjoy the experience associated with benefits of a healthy life. However, our enjoyment does not come without some fear.  Let something be done.

    The government must really step in and get all equipment's alongside efficient workers to eliminate rubbish and filth around us, although I won’t disagree we are also to be blamed big time we contribute at large since we create filth and we don’t respect our surroundings. Our health is always the victim because we are exposed to such poor sanitation. 

              It’s in our efforts to maintain environmental cleanliness which would be enhanced if everyone took the responsibility to talk of personal hygiene wherever they found themselves. If this is done, much of our problems on cholera would be over.  Therefore I am writing this as it is my plea for us to come together and drive away filth bringing us poor health hazards. Whatever you do, just don’t draw us back in hopes.

Our Cafeteria/ Canteen

         A cafeteria is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school; a school dining location is also referred to as a dining hall or canteen.Cafeterias are different from coffeehouses, although that is the Spanish meaning of the English word.
Instead of table service, there are food-serving counters/stalls, either in a line or allowing arbitrary walking paths. They are often found within a larger institution, catering to the clientele of that institution. For example, schools, colleges.
   On our campus the cafeteria is quite small but contains a lot of students who enjoy the delicious food they make. It is irresistible and hence is always found crowded.
         Time for lunch, the student has a chance to relax, eat a delicious lunch,and talk with friends…he/she wishes. Students have always looked forward to lunch
     In our cafeteria they provide meals that are high quality, nutritious and appealing to students and staff. They serve food that is safe, wholesome and prepared according to proper food handling and sanitation procedures.
            In addition the food service staff are dedicated employees, providing excellent customer service, making your concerns a high priority.

We have all sorts of snacks ,pastries and beverages one can take when in a hurry or is relaxing and studying. Although there is not much variety of food ,the meals are loved by all because the dishes are prepared in the most tasty way. Also not enough ventilation when it gets too busy because we still use fans rather than A.Cs.
      Our cafeteria is an opportunity to gather with old and new friends in a relaxed atmosphere.
  

 LIBRARY ON CAMPUS.

It is beyond controversy that the libraries are for the benefit of the people at large. They have to produce better citizens, hap­pier people and finally a better society. This belief has, of and on, been asserted in more detail by intellectuals. Our library furnish in­formation on all subjects, provide the means of self-education, stimulate continuous education to help men and women to parti­cipate intelligently in a democratic society and give an opportunity of reading for pleasure. If we were to look back to hundred years, we would find these ideas quite unknown to that age, but in the modern age, library, public or private, is an essential part of the educational resources of a nation. It has grown with the schools and the colleges, and share with them the numerous responsibility for helping GIJ to maintain and to promote our heritage, democratic freedom and opportunity.

 

 

Books have a great place in life. They arc out reliable and abiding companions in the pilgrimage of life. The friends of the flesh are parted from us but books seldom desert us. They give us both light and delight. There is a treasure which cannot be exhausted. The treasure lies before us, we have only to knock at the door. Hence we make all possible efforts to collect books of our own choice In order to make a good private library.

 

Our library is a treasure-house of knowledge. A well-stocked library which is an asset to the university. The  library has a librarian to guide and attend to the readers.

Books are kept and arranged properly which makes us look for a particular book easily. A member of a library can borrow a few books for a particular period and take them home. It is the responsibility of the student that no pages are torn. If he loses a book, he has to pay for the loss. Information technology has helped in improving the library facilities.

 

Books are man's best friends. They give him company equally in times of happiness as well as in times of distress. They are one of the main sources of knowledge. The best place for easy access to books is a library.

    A library is a place where not only books but also magazines, journals and newspapers are well-stocked for our benefit. Beside this one can also get the entire atlas, Encyclopedia, etc. to know even the minute detail of a thing. It is a treasure-house of knowledge. It helps the spread of education.The library is a popular place in the academic curriculum.
Here is a short video in the library space...

 

 

 

 

 

CITIZEN JOURNALISM VRS TRADITIONAL MEDIA

 Citizen journalism is when everyday people or people who are not trained journalists collect, report and distribute news and information just like mainstream or professional journalists but post their “work” on social media platforms, whereas mainstream journalists post theirs in the traditional media. These people may have different objectives and ideals for gathering and reporting on these news items and information. Examples of citizen journalism is the gathering and reporting by citizens during the 2010 Haiti earthquake and the December 2010 Arab spring. These citizens do the gathering and reporting by the use of technological devices like mobile phones and digital cameras. These news items and information mostly come in the form of video, audio and pictures. They are posted on social media platforms such as blogs, photo and video- sharing sites like youtube, etc. It can exist within the main framework of a mainstream media outlet and it can also exist on its own.

            Social media can be said to be a platform which enables interactions on the web by means of creating, sharing and/or exchanging information and ideas. These interactions are done by the use of texts, audio and video using online applications. Some of these applications are facebook, blogs, wikis, podcasts, twitter , deli:cious, bado, youtube, linkedin etc. Citizen journalists therefore use these platforms (facebook, Reddit, youtube,etc) to share news items and information to members within their circles who in turn also distribute it to those within their circles. These social platforms allow users to contribute or comment on the postings of other users. These comments may either be positive or negative pertaining on how the user views it.

             Traditional media is the old and usually archaic or out- moded way of distributing news items and information. It can also be the non-electronic mediums which works as part of our culture and as vehicles transmitting tradition from one generation to the other. Traditional media includes radio, newspapers, magazines, books, movies and orally. Traditional media has been used for years in the forms of sales promotions, public relations and direct marketing, before the advent of the internet and eventually the development of social media through the amendment of web 1.0 to web 2.0 which is user friendly.

            The introduction of social media platforms such as facebook, twitter, youtube, Reddit and the like, as well as the innovation of technological devices such as mobile phones, iPads, digital cameras and laptops, just to mention a few has had a somehow tremendous or crippling effect on the traditional media used by mainstream journalists. In that, social media platforms allows for users to post or broadcast whatever information they want to share online without any real restrictions in spaces supposed to be used and times convenient for these information or news items to be shared. Unlike traditional media, the social media allows these citizen journalists to reach out to a limitless amount of people at the same time whereas the traditional media is limited in the number of people it reaches. Information put across in traditional media can also not reach a lot of people at the same time. Though technological devices and the use of the internet is expensive and thus demand a lot of monetary investment as supposed to traditional media which is less expensive, the new media transmits information faster and it is also easier for citizen journalists to use. Social media also allows citizen journalists to get instant feedback from other users unlike the traditional media whereby readers or the audience needs to write or send feedback which will be publicized in the next issue of traditional media if it is print like newspapers or magazines or read on the program if it is a show on radio, since the traditional media is limited on the basis of time, space and days when programs are televised or delivered. The gathering, reporting and distribution by citizen journalists by use of social media affect the work or the transmission of mainstream journalists and media houses in that, the audience are now relying more on citizen journalists for news and information online and “abandoning” the traditional media which used to be their only source of news items and information on either news, entertainment, sports, etc. This to an extent is also because accessing social media platforms for information is not time consuming like the traditional media. Thus, one can access whatever information he or she likes at his or her own convenience online unlike the traditional media which does not give this option. For example, if any audience wants to watch the day’s happenings, he or she needs to wait till evening when most media houses telecasts the news bulletin before getting informed on what made the news during the day. However, social media allows for the user to access any of the social platforms at any given time suitable for the user to get the information he or she requires without any restriction on time.

            Despite all the above mentioned effects citizen journalism through the use of social media is having on the traditional media due to the active participation by the users of these social media platforms, traditional media houses are rapidly integrating citizen journalists in the mainstream media by equally creating accounts and/ or pages on social media platforms like facebook and twitter which allows citizen journalists to share with them any information be it in the form of texts, photos, audio and videos which they in turn use as part of their mainstream disseminating or distribution of information or comment on their reportage. Citizen journalists have also welcomed this initiative by the traditional media and thus contribute to the pages or accounts created by these traditional media houses’ on social platforms anything they deem as worth sharing to aid them in their work by sometimes creating awareness and other times to educate or bring to the notice of the proper authorities to cause a change in their environment. Traditional media houses have also created websites which allows for users to access the page at any given time for any information needed. They also now have online publications of their traditional outlets which the audience can have access to at any time. Examples of traditional media houses which have incorporated citizen journalism into their mainstream reporting and dissemination are CNN and TV3. Tv3 has created a segment on their seven o’clock news bulletin called ‘Mynews’ which allows for viewers to share with them news stories which is basically in a video form before or during the news on situations going on in their communities or around them to be telecast as part of their news bulletin. They also have a facebook page where they post the news headlines for the day to allow viewers comment on those headlines, and their comments read live during the news. CNN also have an online site called I-Reporter which allows citizen journalists to post news items or share information usually in a video form.

            In all, though the introduction of social media and social media platforms and the innovation of technological devices have facilitated the quickest and easiest way of sharing news items and information by citizen journalists posed a great threat to the effectiveness of the traditional media, the traditional media houses is intelligently trying to incorporate citizen journalism into the mainstream media. Though this is a step in the right direction, the fact still remains that mainstream journalists of traditional media houses cannot be everywhere at the same time and will still need to rely on citizen journalists to relay some or most news items and information on social media platforms like facebook, twitter, youtube and the like for them to pick and develop into their mainstream news items. Thus, citizen journalists cannot be do away with since the mainstream or traditional media houses need them. However, the news items and information shared by these citizen journalists may not always be factual or can be twisted based on their affiliations or emotions, and there is no real way for the other user accessing that information to know the truth. Mainstream journalists however go by their journalistic principle which entreats them to be objective in their reportage. Thus, it is devoid of emotions or bias.

Christina Vanderpuye

Benjamin Agyepong

Follykoue Ayele Esther

Solange Moukarzel

Teiko Nartey-Khama

STUDENTS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIPS ON CAMPUS.

   Nowadays, there has been a long-lasting debate over the effects of being student of a university. While some people hold on to this view of university life, others strongly disagree. There are two sides to this issue.
      Often it is argued that university life has positive effects being student. One point in favour of living university life grow up our education. For example; we can join with a variety of activities. Secondly, if we live university life, we have a lot of friends and if we go to university, we will earn lots of money in future.
  On the other hand, other oppose this view point. They think that the main negative aspect of living university life has lots of problem. The only negative thing is living university life can be boring or maybe you can be a hard-working student. But our student life here is seen on the positive sides of living university life which outweighs its negative sides.

Student-teacher relationships develop over the course of the school year through a course of student and teacher beliefs, attitudes, behaviours, and interactions with one another. Forming strong and supportive relationships with teachers allows students to feel safer and more secure in the school setting, feel more competent, make more positive connections with peers, and make greater academic gains always.
 In GIJ ,we students who have close, positive and supportive relationships with our various lecturers attain higher levels of achievement than those students with more conflictual relationships. If a student feels a personal connection to a teacher, experiences frequent communication with a teacher, just as we practise in class. We tend to receive more guidance and praise than criticism from our lecturer, and hence we become more trustful of that lecturer, we show more engagement in the academic content presented, display better classroom behavior, and achieve at higher levels academically. Positive teacher-student relationships like what we have in GIJ draws us students into the process of learning and promoting our desire to learn .

lively active students on campus

Here is an audio from a student on campus and how she feels

 

This is a video in class showing the lovely relationships of the students

 

GIJ ClassRooms Style...

OUR VARIOUS CLASSROOMS.

First of all defining classroom is :A room, typically in a school, in which a class of students is taught. At GIJ the classrooms are big although not as spacious as it should be it is able to contain a lot of students. Especially now that the new building has been put up,various classes have been split up into groups of A's and B's. The furniture consists of chairs and tables that is a desk to facilitate interactions. The class has comfortable areas for learning, and an open space for gathering.

                      On the walls are covered with students’ projects which is very emcouraging. This also shows an evidence of student collaboration ,obviously created by students rather than by the teacher. Students in the class are always eager and engaged in every activity. The sounds heard best are those of students exchanging ideas regarding classroom activities. And the lecturer as well, typically working with students.

We also take into consideration classroom behavior. It is possibly one of the most important things on the face of the Earth. Each day, good kids like us always follow our teachers rules so we can learn useful things to use in the real world. We do this because we realize the importance of an education, unlike the normal kids, who don't seem to grasp the concept of education. This plays a key role in our lives.      
  Classroom behavior also carries the responsibility of making sure that all work is completed. No one wants a bad grade to show to the colleges... or do we? But the most important thing is that a part of classroom behavior is being quiet and following the laws of the Institute.

 

 

 Regarding ventilation, we have fans although not all function but we tend to enjoy fresh natural air. We also seem to lack projectors during our lectures in class which needs to be dealt with as soon as possible. This is why we contribute and participate to make the best of what we have in the class. We use the microphones in class, for louder hearing during lectures because of our large number. Here is a short video taken in class before a lecture.

Mostly it is us the students that tend to make the class very fun and interesting, here is to prove to you how lively and active the class can get before lectures start.......

 

                Finally, here is a short interview with my very own close friend and a mate on her viws on the classrooms condition.... 
 

Everything one needs to know about Ghana Institute Of Journalism {GIJ} and its existence on Campus with live pictures,video,audios and online print news….

GHANA INSTITUTE OF JOURNALISM {GIJ} CAMPUS ENVIRONMENT...



The Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) specialises in communication training. This has been for more than fifty years the Institute has been training journalists and practitioners in Ghana and other African countries. It is a very beautiful place to study in,such lively serene atmosphere with everyone happy to attend lectures.
               Our school environment is the place where students have real and substantial knowledge and develop critical thinking skills and they are not just vessels with the ability to “parrot” entire books. There are enough clean, spacious, and comfortable classrooms for us to learn in. We have a perfect library and new summer huts for our relaxation on free periods. Access to free internet now made available to us for  easy research.
                                GIJ campus is a special environment, where certain qualities of life and certain types of activities and occupations arc provided with the object of child's development. It is a mini society, where all types of faith, creeds, religions, values etc. are developed and our institute plays an important role this set up. Students of today are the citizens of tomorrow.

                                 We have a very lively atmosphere here on our campus, where everyone works together towards their goal.Its very clean,calm,and conducive place to be in. During free times, students usually go to the library, cafeteria or summer huts to read books and newspapers.GIJ's campus with its new renovations has become an attractive, modern, and well-equipped building where pupils really feel the school life and this leads to a positive impact on our lives.

We encourage a friendly campus environment because it contains multicultural students and that leads to making us experience similarities and differences...We make sure we practice these qualities understanding, appreciation, and respect.

Although there is not enough space on the campus to contain a lot of us the best is made out of what we have. Our transportation means are by the buses provided for us on campus where it helps students a lot. The student lecturer relationship on the grounds is very tight and cordial , we get along perfectly with them. Here is a short video to show students after lectures ,and a bit of my campus environment.

      A successful University campus is one that guides its student body to self discovery. I believe that a healthy campus community must be diverse, and multidimensional but also allow for cultural exchange. Obviously we students come from different backgrounds, and pursue different goals, but we must share common interests. Here is also an audio from one of my very own close friend, a mate on campus and this is what she feels regarding the environment.