Education Minister, Dr. Yaw Osei-Adutwum has said he envisions a day when parents will beg to enroll their children in basic public schools because he is setting things right.
He said this during a ceremony at the University of Professional Studies, Accra.
Addressing critics who accuse him of neglecting basic schools, Dr. Adutwum emphasized his dedication to improving them.
“So they will say, we will give you credit, you have done well with Senior High School, but you have abandoned basic schools, children are sitting under trees and you are talking about drones.
“To them, I have a response, I look forward to a day when parents will line up in front of the school and beg to enroll their children, that is the day and it will soon come and it has begun under Nana Akufo Addo,” he added.
He unveiled a fresh set of uniforms for basic school students. The initiative aims to uplift the image of public schools
Dr. Adutwum stressed the importance of this change, saying, “You see, you don’t see brown and yellow, we are rebranding public schools. No brown and yellow, blue and white, and we are changing the uniforms too. This is President Akufo-Addo and Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia’s Ghana.
“We have begun the transformation. There’s no reason why we should not. Ghana deserves better, and we’re going to give them better, something that we can all be proud of.
However, Dr. Clement Apaak, the deputy ranking member of the Education Committee in Parliament, criticized the move, calling it a misallocation of resources. He highlighted the neglect faced by public basic schools and the outstanding capitation grants, crucial for their operation.
Dr. Apaak questioned why resources are being diverted to changing uniforms instead of addressing these pressing issues.
“We even have a situation where only 65% of textbooks based on the new curriculum which came into effect in September 2019, have been distributed to our public basic schools across the country. We have more than 1.3 million people in the country who have no access to furniture so why will the government in spite of these glaring and debilitating challenges seek to spend resources in rebranding our public basic schools by introducing a new uniform,’ He said
This marks the second change in uniform under the Akufo-Addo Administration, following the alteration in 2019 by the then Education Minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, who is now the Energy Minister.
Pulse
