<<Print>>

The National Service Scheme (NSS) has de�bunked news making rounds that there will be no postings this year due to the Ebola scare. Consequently, the NSS at a press conference yesterday an�nounced that postings will be released at 6pm today. Graduates have been de�ployed to government priority areas such as agriculture, edu�cation, health, local govern�ment, military, co-operatives and any other areas deemed necessary. Sectors for postings will in�clude education, with a total 36,825; 3,157 of this number will be deployed to the tertiary education level to support training institutions in faculty work, research and administra�tion. The health sector also re�ceived 2,685 persons to sup�port health delivery, especially in clinics, hospitals, immunisa�tion centres and the National Health Insurance Scheme, making 4% of the total num�ber. The scheme continued its support to the private sector to meet their human resource re�quirements with 10,427 per�sonnel, which represent 13.2% of the total service deployment. The scheme has specifically deployed personnel with Plan�ning and Surveying back�grounds to all the MMDAs and District Assemblies to support their social service pro�grammes. The focus of the 2014-15 scheme is to vigorously pur�sue the Youth in Agriculture through its agriculture proj�ects. Speaking at the press con�ference, the Executive Direc�tor of NSS, Alhaji Alhassan Imoro, revealed that some�times they are criticised by sections of the public for posting young graduates to certain parts of the country. He said the deployment is heavily influenced by the government�s priority devel�opment programme and the demands of user agencies, as well as carrying the capacity of the regions. The breakdown for the various regions is as follows: Greater Accra, leading with a number of 22,824; Ashanti Region - 13,537; Upper East - 2,264; Volta - 3,837; Brong Ahafo - 5,993; Northern - 5,256; Eastem-5,611; West�ern - 4,5.90; and Central - 4,615. In all, 71,198 National Serv�ice personnel were deployed for the year 2014/2015.