Adutwum’s Education Ministry Accused of Rendering GES Useless

The Ministry of Education (MoE), under the sector minister Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, is being accused of making Ghana Education Service (GES) ineffective, following certain worrying actions by the Ministry which should not be swept under the carpet.

According to Institute of Education Studies (IFEST), a Civil Society Organization on Education, the Ministry of Education has sidelined the GES in certain key developments in the sector, such as, National Standard Test (NST), School Calendar, and the Recruitment of Heads of STEM schools.

The Ministry is said to have hijacked the duties of GES “consciously or unconsciously”, which in a way, gradually weakening the nation’s strategic educational institution, with its constant acts.

In statement sighted by The Anchor, dated May 30, 2022 and issued by the Executive Director for IFEST, Peter Anti, it warned that any attempt to continue on this path by Dr. Yaw Adutwum-led Education Ministry, will kill the morale within GES and put the implementation of policies in the education sector in complete disarray.

IFEST said it cannot fathom [out] how Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcomes Project (GALOP) could be purported to have been carried out without the explicit knowledge and involvement of the GES.

“The conversation on the GALOP Teacher Training issue clearly cements our proposition that the Ministry of education is gradually juggling the role of policy formulation and implementing agency; this it says presents the GES as inefficient.

“It is clear from the correspondence from the World Bank; the GES and the Press Statements from the Ministry that the GES which is mandated to undertake this teacher training exercise was sidelined in the entire process,” it disclosed.

He continued: “It is clear from the events mentioned that it seems the Ministry of Education is consciously or unconsciously weakening the GES with its constant acts. It is important to point out that GES needs to be efficient, effective and inspiring in the delivery of its mandates.

“Any attempt to continue on this path by the Ministry of Education will kill morale within the GES and put the implementation of a lot of policies in the education sector, especially, at the Pre-Tertiary level, in complete disarray, as it has been witnessed in some instances. Already, the World Bank has bemoaned the slow implementation of the GALOP projects.”

IFEST, therefore, called on the Minister of Education to show leadership and ensure that there is proper coordination and cordiality between these two critical institutions.

“We further call on the GES council to ensure that the mandate of the service is not compromised.

“Finally, we appeal to the President of the Republic of Ghana to step in, and ensure that the investments made in the education sector do not go down the drain, because of the lack of coordination between these two critical institutions,” IFEST concluded.

source:theanchorghana