Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum
Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, has stated that President Akufo-Addo has an unmatched record in education, which has witnessed systematic improvement since 2017.
He asserted that the current administration’s performance over the past six years has far outperformed that of earlier administrations over the last 14 years in terms of educational outcomes, and added that change is taking place from school to school.
“From school to school, change is happening, and the Mastercard Foundation is providing additional funding to underperforming schools to enhance teaching and learning,” the minister told the media in an interview.
He said the government’s educational strides, particularly the provision of ultra-modern classroom blocks for several schools, equipped with laboratories, ICT centres, and libraries, are already changing lives and the narrative of education in Ghana.
According to the minister, the establishment of ten STEM centres across the country to aid in the study of engineering and robotics, as well as the millions of young people who have benefited from the free SHS policy, are aimed at improving educational standards.
Dr. Adutwum stated that the government is committed to improving educational standards and has no plans to close underperforming schools, as has been widely reported.
“It is about supporting teachers and head masters through the National Education Leadership Institute to improving performance in such schools, while also resourcing the schools concerned with the necessary logistics,” he intimated.
He was surprised that his pep talks to headmasters to step up their game was misrepresented by some faceless people looking for cheap political points.
Again, the minister stated that the introduction of STEM education and the making of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) free have changed the face of education in Ghana.
He indicated that before President Akufo-Addo took office, only 2% of pupils in class two could read, but thanks to effective interventions, that figure has risen to 38%.
He disclosed that preliminary analysis of the 2022 P2 National Standardised Test, Ghana has made significant progress in literacy proficiency since 2015.
“The Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) results in 2015 show that, only 2% of pupils in Primary 2 could read at grade level, with 50% unable to read a single word. This situation called for educational transformation that led to the Education Strategic Plan (ESP) 2018-2030.
“In all, about 456,481 pupils were engaged in the P2 NST which happened to be the 1st Census test conducted by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment; with 232,003 being males while the females were 224,478.
“The preliminary analysis of the 2022 P2 NST indicates a success rate of 38.7% proficiency as the mean percentage score. In terms of gender, female average of 39.9% was slightly better than the male average of 37.4%,” he intimated.
He continued that in terms of public/private school children, there was 380,814 public school children against 11,294 private school children.
“The analysis also indicates mean score of 37.0% for the public schools with the private school mean score being 70.3%. Full and detailed results for both literacy and numeracy with the various sub-tasks and regional averages will be released in due course,” the minister said.
“The President has done an outstanding job in increasing enrollment in Senior High Schools from approximately 800,000 to 1.4 million, and this is what we should be discussing,” he pointed out.
The minister said now basic education includes vocational, agricultural and technical schools because the government believes that every Ghanaian child deserves basic education.
By Ernest Kofi Adu