Dr Yaw Osei Adutuwm has inaugurated a 14-member ministerial advisory board to advise the Ministry on policy formation and proffer ideas to operationalize the country’s transformation agenda in the educational system.
The Minister speaking at the inauguration ceremony in Accra, said the members were selected from different backgrounds with the requisite expertise to bring about the transformation the country needed for national development.
“President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo believes that quality education is what will transform the country’s socio-economic development and this can be materialized with your expertise to drive that positive change”, he said.
He said the country’s educational system needed re-engineering and stated that the nation has a long way to go because previous governments had tried but to no avail and cited that other countries had taken a bold decision to reach where they are.
“I will not blame the management of universities whose fresh students cannot read and write, but will be surprised if the situation persists after graduation,” he said.
The Minister urged the Board to live a legacy at the end of their tenure and be remembered that they “came, saw challenges but were empowered and conquered problems for the benefit of all and sundry”.
He said President Akufo-Addo’s first term achievement in the educational space was remarkable in areas of free Senior High School policy, investment in infrastructure, among others, and stated that it was imperative to build on that foundation for more growth.
The country’s education, Dr Adutwum said needed to develop critical thinkers to solve problems and as such emphasized government Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics schools were under construction to achieve that feat.
He said the country needed to have six years of secondary school to fully groom the students for tertiary education, saying Africa cannot afford an educational system without gifted and talented minds to drive the continent.
He pledged government commitment to work with the advisory board and sought their inputs to develop the country’s educational system.
The advisory board members are Reverend John Ntim Fordjour and Madam Gifty Twum Ampofo, Deputies Minister of Education (MOE); Mr Benjamin Kwasi Gyasi, Chief Director, MOE; Mr Michael Nsowah, Ghana Education Service Council Chairman; Professor Dominic Fobih, GETFund Board Chairman; Prof Jophus Anamuah-Mensah, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba; Mr James Asare-Adjei, Association of Ghana Industries, and Mr Joseph Atsu Homadzi, Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition
The rest are Prof Mark Adom Asamoah, Provost, College of Engineering, KNUST; Dr Joyce Aryee, Former Minister of Education; Mr Mark Kakraba Ampeh, Real Estate/Infrastructure; Dr Charles Yeboah, Private Schools; Prof Mohammed Salifu, Ex-Officio and Mr Abdul-Razark Umar, Secretary, Director,HR- MOE.
