The 2020 Census Steering Committee has indicated that Ghana would be conducting the next decennial Population and Housing Census (PHC) from March 15, 2020.
The Government Statistician, Prof. Samuel Kobina Annim, said this when he led a three-man delegation to the office of the Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, H.E. M. Shi Ting Wang, to express the appreciation of the Ghana Statistical Service to the government and people of China for granting full scholarship to four senior officers to attend a three-week seminar on IT-based Statistics Management for Developing Countries.
Prof. Annim used the occasion to brief the ambassador on the steps the service was taking to conduct the next Population and Housing Census and called for the support of the Chinese government in acquiring 70,000 tablets as Ghana was deploying technology to ensure timely release of census data to guide policy planning and development.
In his response, H.E. Shi Ting Wang expressed the desire of the Embassy to know the number of Chinese in Ghana as that information is not readily and accurately available to them.
He remarked that Chinese were not required to report to the Embassy when in another country, hence if the census would provide them with that data, it would be of immense help to the Embassy.
The Ambassador revealed that the cooperation between Ghana and China was strong and this reflected in the number of Ghanaians studying the Chinese Language as against any other non-English country.
He said there were 6,500 Ghanaian students in China as against 3,500 in USA for the 2019 academic year; and added that 310 of the students in China were on full Chinese scholarship.
On the request for tablets, the Ambassador indicated that the request was awaiting response from the Chinese government in Beijing.
Prof. Annim then expressed his appreciation for the consideration but reminded the Ambassador of the tight deadline for the acquisition of tablets for the 2020 PHC.
The Government Statistician was accompanied by Mrs Araba Forson, Deputy Government Statistician, and Kwadwo Asante-Mensah, Director of Administration.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM