Welcome

The Ghana National Service Scheme is an Agency under the Ministry of Education. It was established in 1973 by a Military Decree (N. R. C. D 208) with the mandate to mobilize and deploy Ghanaian citizens of 18 years and above especially newly qualified University graduates and diplomats on national priority development programmes that contribute to improving the quality of life of the ordinary Ghanaian for a one year mandatory national service.
The Scheme was later given statutory legitimacy under the 1979 Constitution of Ghana with the thrust of N.R.C.D 208 being upheld. The National Service Act of 1980, Act 426 was then promulgated and passed by the Parliament of Ghana to give legal and constitutional backing to the scheme. The mandate of the Scheme remained the same and the duration of service was extended from one to two years under this Act. The Act which was brought into force in 1982, further stipulated a six month military orientation for the service personnel to instill in them a sense of discipline, patriotism and a culture of hard work.

In 1997, a Cabinet decision reduced the duration of the service to one year following a recommendation from the Ministry of Education which has oversight responsibilities over the Scheme. The Scheme has since been operating on the provisions of Act 426 of 1980 which provides the legal framework and direction for programme design and implementation. The Scheme, since its inception has become the institutional option for the Ghanaian youth especially tertiary education graduates to exercise their civic responsibility towards the state through service.

Profile Of the Executive director
	Mr. VINCENT SENAM KUAGBENU Born on 20th June, 1965, Mr Kuagbenu attended the Akatsi Teacher Training College between 1985 and 1989 and subsequently awarded Teacher’s Cert. ‘A’. He was a product of the University of Education of Winneba, where he obtained a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) Degree in 2000. Mr Kuagbenu also attended the University of Ghana, Legon where read
Social work for his Masters degree between 2005 and 2007. He had twenty (20years) of teaching experience and rose to the rank of Assistant Director with the Ghana Education Service in 2007. He has participated extensively in several Educational Review workshops and has conducted several researches in education and disability issues. Until his appointment as Executive Director on July 20, 2009, he was the Head of the Autistic Unit at the Dzorwulu Special School in Accra. Mr Kuagbenu is married with three beautiful daughters.