Napo and other dignitaries at the high table
EDUCATION MINISTER, Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh, fondly called Napo, yesterday broke his silence on the teacher licensing issue, which has generated a huge controversy, stressing that he is not the one championing the policy as reported by a section of the media.
He stated categorically that he had not publicly spoken about the teacher licensing issue since he was appointed minister by President Akufo-Addo, stressing that some media outlets published a hoax story about the policy and linked him to it.
“I have not spoken about the teacher licensing issue. A certain media house rather rehashed a story on the policy, which was originally published in August 2014, when I was not a minister, and made some editing to include my name in it to portray as if I was pushing for the policy,” he distanced himself.
Napo suspected that the publishers of the story intentionally did that to create enmity between him and the various teacher unions, stressing, “I won’t fall for that evil plot.”
The education minister, who is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Manhyia South, debunked the claims on Wednesday during the 12th National Delegates’ Conference of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) in Kumasi.
The programme, which was under the theme, ‘Implementing Quality Free SHS Education in Ghana; The Nuances of the Transition,’ was graced by Prof. Opoku Amankwa, Director General, Ghana Education Service (GES) and other dignitaries.
Blasts Media
Napo, who uncharacteristically sounded peeved, descended heavily on some media organizations, which he said had continuously published false stories about him since he was appointed minister – just to tarnish his image and also create unnecessary tension.
He said, “It is about time the mischiefs of some media are exposed for all to see.” He maintained that a certain media outlet in the country (which he declined to mention), had written three different concocted stories about him.
“That same media house published the teacher licensing story and also published another story that I wanted to sack teachers,” he recounted, adding that that particular media network after each publication, would call to beg him, only to write another false story about him again.
“Don’t believe everything you read in the traditional and social media lately because some people have been using such platforms to peddle blatant falsehoods,” Dr Opoku Prempeh admonished his audience.
He also stated that reports that teachers would be mandated to write licensing examination every year is not true, pointing out that “Ghana cannot do teacher licensing examination every year.”
Charges WAEC
He also tasked the West African Examination Council (WAEC) to quickly revert the senior high school (SHS) examination date from February to its original date of June/July, effective next year.
He noted, “Issues like the shifting of the examination date forward and late arrival of new students to school, had led to the reduction in the number of terms the students spend in school from nine to six, which is not helping anybody.”
Napo also urged WAEC to release examination results early to avoid situations whereby first-year students go to school very late, which usually results in the students losing ample time to study.
Free SHS
Napo stated that President Akufo-Addo had decided to use the resources of the country to properly train the human resource base of the country, saying that the president believes that Ghana can only develop with educated people.
According to him, the Free SHS policy is surely coming into effect in September this year and charged all stakeholders, including teachers, government, heads of schools, parents and all others, to play their parts to make it successful.
National President of NAGRAT, Christian Addai-Poku, lauded the government for boldly going to implement the free education policy in the country, pointing out that without an educated populace Ghana cannot develop.
According to him, no Ghanaian child should be denied access to education. He indicated that the introduction of the free SHS, would once-and-for-all end the gender inequality quagmire in the educational sector.
Mr. Addai-Poku warned that undue delays in the release of funds to the various schools should be avoided so that the laudable policy would be successful, entreating government to look into the welfare of teachers, especially in the areas of promotion and pension.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi