Browsing by Author "Osman, Mahama"

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    Growth and yield response of early and medium maturity soybean (glycine max (l) merrill) varieties to row spacing
    (2011) Osman, Mahama
    An experiment to investigate the effect of different row spacings on the growth and yield of three soybean varieties Ahoto, Anidaso and Nangbaar was conducted at the Plantation Crop Section of the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi in 2008 and 2009. The experimental design was a split plot, arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The varieties were the main plots and row spacing, the subplots. Data collected were plant height, number of primary branches, shoot dry matter, leaf area index, crop growth rate, nodule count, nodule dry weight and effectiveness, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, 100 seed weight, grain yield per hectare and percentage pod shattering. The data were analysed using ANOVA and means separated by LSD (P<0.05) using MSTAT-C. The results showed significant (P<0.05) differences due to varieties for number of primary branches, leaf area index, number of pods per plant and grain yield (ton ha-1). Row spacing effects were significant (P<0.05) on plant height (cm), leaf area index, number of leaves, dry matter yield kg ha-1 and grain yield (ton ha-1). Correlation analysis showed significant positive correlation between number of pods per plant and grain yield (r = 0.597). Under the conditions of this study, the Ahoto variety was the best in terms of grain yield, 3.15 ton ha-1, and the row spacing of 40×5 cm resulted in the highest grain yield, 2.46 ton ha-1. Among the three varieties, therefore, Ahoto would give the highest grain yield to producers, and the spacing recommended to soybean farmers is 40×5 cm.
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    Improving the quality of education at the basic level in the Northen Region: The case of Gushegu District of Northern Ghana
    (OCTOBER, 2015 ) Osman, Mahama
    The study was conducted in the Gushegu District of Northern Region of Ghana with the aim of establishing strategies that will improve the quality of basic education in the district. The study made due with both secondary data taken from the Ghana Education Service and primary data collected from 129 sample respondents consisting of head teachers, classroom teachers, Parents Teachers Association/School Management Committee (PTA/SMCs) members, circuit supervisors and director of education (The simple random sampling through balloting technique was used to select five basic schools from each of the eight circuits to constitute forty sample basic schools. Again, the same method was employed to select one teacher from each of the sample schools, whilst purposive sampling technique adopted to compost the forty head teachers, forty PTA/SMCs of the sample schools, the eight circuits supervisors and the District Director of Education). The study found that the current state of basic education delivery in the district was far from quality. For instance, the best performance of the District at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for the recent past five years since 2008, was 37 percent in 2009/2010. However, this level of output at the BECE by the district on the same time frame was consistently fell below the least National average performance of 46.93 percent in 2013 (Opong-Sakyere et al..2013). This poor performance of the district could be attributed to challenges such as inadequate qualify and dedicated trained teachers (45 percent), inadequate teaching and learning materials (pupil textbook ratio, 5:1), poor parenting, poor conditions of service and inadequate infrastructure (thus, the district needs 60 number, 6-units classroom block at the basic level for serene classroom environment) militate against quality delivery. The study further found presence of educational sector NGOs in the district, large tracks of land available to schools (for more classrooms construction) and availability of experienced teachers as potentials that could be tapped to improve the quality of basic education delivery in the district. The study again revealed that expansion of school infrastructure (by government and World Vision Ghana), intensification of supervision (GES Directorate) as well as introduction of inter-schools debate and quiz competitions (heads of basic schools) as strategies to improve quality education delivery. The study therefore recommends that in addition to implementing the above suggested strategies by the key stakeholders, educational sector organizations operating in the district should harmonize their divergent efforts to be able to impact on the delivery of quality basic education in the district.