The Ghana Statistical Service has launched the Post Enumeration Survey (PES) with a call on field officers to exhibit high sense of professionalism in the discharge of their work.

The exercise will begin from Wednesday, August 25 to Tuesday, September 14, 2021, for all the regions with 91 districts and 498 enumeration.

Professor Samuel Kobina Annim, Government Statistician, speaking at the launch of the event in Winneba in the Central Region urged the officers to adhere to the United Nations principles of quality statistics.

The principles include relevance, impartiality and equal access, professional standards and ethics, and accountability and transparency.

The Service from August 11 to August 22, 2021 commenced training of field officers of PES for data quality.

The 2021 PHC officially commenced on Sunday, June 27 with the listing of structures on Sunday, June 13, 2021.

The exercise was extended for the third and final time from August 1-8, 2021.

The first extension started from Monday July 12 to 18, while the second one started from Monday July 19 to July 31.

The Professor said the trainees were taken through rigorous training in both the theory and practical including PES concepts, interview skills, and group discussions.

He stated that the trainees were trained to use the Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing, an electronic device or tablet to record respondents' information unlike the use of pen and paper questionnaire.

"They are also expected to use the Geographic Positioning System to capture the location of all structures and localities to ensure complete coverage," he said.

Prof Annim said there was the need to ensure that the Census data collected were of high quality, stressing that the PES was intended to validate Census data to boost the confidence of data users.

He urged the public to cooperate with the field officers by providing complete and accurate information in order to ensure a successful 2021 PES.

The Census call centre, he said, was still active and urged the public to call on toll free numbers- 0800426426, 0591476895, 0206850157, 0591476893, 0591476884, 0206850157, and 0551625567 for any assistance.

Dr Collins Opiyo, UNFPA Chief Technical Advisor for 2021 Census, advised the field officers to follow the rules and procedures of the exercise devoid of errors.

"Be meticulous, diligent, honest and efficient deliver on your responsibilities for quality and effective data collection," he said.

The 2021 PHC will provide important information to support evidence-based implementation of the national development agenda and support the tracking of achievements of the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2063 of the African Union, among others.

The 2021 PES is an exercise which is being conducted to evaluate the completeness and accuracy of the 2021 Population and Housing Census by independently revisiting a sample of the population and recording their information in relation to the Census.

The conduct of the 2021 PES is in accordance with the Statistical Service Act, 2019 (Act, 1003), which empowers the Government Statistician to conduct statistical surveys and any census in Ghana.