Education Minister Inaugurates Advisory Board

The Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, has sworn in a 12-member Ministerial Advisory Board of the Ministry of Education to advise the sector minister on policy formulations and direction of the ministry.

The board, made up of stakeholders in the sector and seasoned individuals, includes the two deputy ministers of Education, Rev. John Ntim Fodjour and Mrs Gifty Twum Ampofo; the Chief Director of the ministry, Mr Bejamin Kwasi Gyasi; the Chairman of the Ghana Education Service (GES) Council, Mr Michael Nsowah; the Chairman of the GETFund, Professor Dominic Fobih; and a retired Vice-Chancellor, Professor Jophus Anamuah-Mensah.

The rest are a representative of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Dr James Asare-Adjei; a representative of the Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC), Mr Joseph Atsu Homadzi; the Provost of the College of Engineering of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Professor Mark Adom Asamoah; a former Minister of Education, Dr Joyce Aryee; a representative of the Real Estate/Infrastructure, Mr Mark Kakraba Ampeh; and a representative of private schools, Dr Charles Yeboah.

The board also has an ex-officio member, the Director-General of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), Professor Mohammed Salifu, and a secretary, who is a Director of the Human Resource Department of the ministry, Mr Abdul-Razak Umar.

Transformation

At the ceremony, Dr Adutwum charged the members to bring on board their experiences to achieve the necessary collaboration for the needed transformation of the sector.

“President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo believes that education is what will transform this country; not just any education, but quality education,” he said.

Dr Adutwum explained that the country’s education system required re-engineering, saying the current state of education was far from perfect.

“In my opinion, we have a long way to go. We have done great things in the past four years, and various governments also did their bid, but we are nowhere close. We are nowhere close to where we want to be where education will be the most important socio-economic enabler in this country,” he stated.

Legacy

Dr Adutwum charged the board to ensure that the legacy it would leave behind would be one the next generation should look “at us and say they gave in their best. They did their very best and transformed the educational system of Ghana”.

“I want that to be your legacy and my legacy that we came and saw and conquered. That we came and saw challenges but we did not allow the challenges to overpower us,” he said.

He said the first term of President Akufo-Addo saw some great innovation and approaches as foundation at the ministry, and that the foundation needed to be built upon “so that we can truly say we have transformed the education system of this country”.

By: graphiconline.com