Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, the Education Minister, has re-echoed John Dramani Mahama’s slogan, ‘You have never been President before,’ ostensibly to dismiss his demands for him to quit over deteriorating standards in the field.
John Mahama recently asked the Education Minister to delegate authority if he cannot help students in low-performing schools improve.
That follows the Minister’s promise to shut down all underperforming schools if educational achievements do not improve.
Mr. Mahama believes that shutting such schools is not only undesirable but also indicates the Minister’s ineptitude, highlighting that it is the Minister’s job to guarantee that all schools have the resources they need to enhance their academic achievements.
However, in a media interview on Tuesday, March 21, Dr. Adutwum expressed confusion over the ex-President’s viewpoint.
“The former President made a famous statement that if you have not been a President before, you can’t question or engage him. But this same person is trying to engage me as a Minister when I have never been a president before. So, I really don’t understand why I am being engaged”, he pointed out.
The Minister then lauded the government’s educational accomplishments.
He underlined that the sector’s progress since the NPP government assumed office has been unparalleled.
“But I want to tell you one thing, Nana Akufo-Addo’s achievements in education are incontestable. The records of President Akufo-Addo in education are unmatched. So, if anyone wants to engage me as Minister of Education, I don’t have any record of my own. I have the record of the President”, Dr. Adutwum added.
A school with a consistent zero to ten percent pass rate, according to the Minister, should develop intervention programmes to ensure that the majority of their students are able to continue their education rather than becoming a liability to their parents and society due to their inability to pass their exams.
He explained that shutting the schools would spare the country from the massive financial losses experienced by the government as a result of the school’s existence and that the affected children would be reassigned to other neighbouring schools, allowing them to continue their education.
The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), for example, has criticised the Education Minister’s decision, arguing that it is unwise.
“This is totally misplaced. That is not where that comment should go. For these schools that he is talking about, those who go there have poor grades, you put all these in one place and expect the heads to do magic. The Minister should sometimes consult”, says GNAT’s General Secretary, Thomas Musah.
