Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu has questioned why he should seek advice from former Education Minister Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum on resolving challenges in the education sector.
According to Haruna Iddrisu, the educational system supervised by Adutwum under the previous NPP administration was “despondent” and encountered several challenges.
In a recent interview on AsaasePa’s Atumpan program, Adutwum noted that he is available anytime to share ideas and experiences with Haruna Iddrisu if he calls on him.
“We are good friends. He can call on me anytime he is in need of anything (in terms of running the education system),” he stated.
In an exclusive interview on TV3 New Day’s The Big Issue, Friday, September 11, Haruna asserted that the educational system under Adutwum was characterised by infrastructure challenges and difficulties in feeding students under the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) programme.
He further questioned the importance of any advise Dr Adutwum offers, given that he left an educational system with myriad of challenges.
“So, when he says come to me for advice, what advice?
“Advice that you left a despondent educational system is what President Mahama inherited,” he said.
According to the Education Minister, the previous administration struggled to adequately provide food for students under the Free SHS programme, resulting in several instances where schools were forced to close because of food shortages.
“You left an educational system in crisis with its infrastructure, an educational system that could not feed students in the government most popular flagship of Free SHS and under his supervision, there were many times schools were closed down because of shortage of food, that has not happened under Minister Haruna Iddrisu,” he noted.
He said the situation had improved under the current administration, attributing the change to President John Dramani Mahama’s decision to uncap the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) and dedicate funding towards feeding students.
“Students are being well fed. Thanks to President Mahama’s uncapping the GETFund and dedicating financing to feed them. So, there has been an improvement,” he added.
Haruna Iddrisu also rejected the suggestion that he would turn to Dr Adutwum for advice on ending the double-track system in senior high schools.
“Am I going to go to Minister Adutwum to seek for advice to end double track? When he invented double track and knows the consequences of double track on the quality of education? I should go for advice on that? Interesting times,” the Minister said.
