Mahama Schools Education Minister Over Plans To Shut Down Non-Performing Second-Cycle Institutions

• John Dramani Mahama has kicked against a proposal by education minster Dr Yaw Adutwum to close down non-performing second-cycle schools
• According to Mahama, the minister must rather find out why the schools were not performing and invest in them
• Dr Adutwum last week grabbed headlines for threatening to close down schools whose pass rates were lower than 10%

Former president John Mahama has said a threat by the education minister Dr Yaw Adutwum to close down non-performing second-cycle schools makes no sense.

During his campaign tour of the Bono Region, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer hopeful said that the plan by the minister is very insensitive.

“The government must sit down and rather assess reasons why the schools are not performing. Maybe they don’t have adequate teachers or furniture to make learning easy, so they can perform," he said when he addressed party delegates at Ahafo Ano South over the weekend.

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Mahama said the proposal is utterly unacceptable.

Adutwum threatens to close down non-performing schools

Last week, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum threatened to close second-cycle institutions failing to live up to expectations.

He told heads of secondary and vocational schools in Kumasi on March 11 and 12 that they must roll out intervention programmes to improve their pass rates, especially if they are in the 0 to 10% region.

He said that if a school is closed, affected students would be redistributed to nearby schools to further their education.

But according to Mahama, a better solution to schools' unproductive pass rates would be for the government, through the education ministry, to assess and improve investment in education.

He also advised the minister to take notes from Prof Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, his 2020 running mate and former education minister, who according to Mahama ramped up investment in education during his tenure.

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MP supports over 200 Ekumfi JHS graduates entering SHS

Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh has reported in a separate story that over 200 first-year SHS students in Ekumfi in the Central Region have received chop boxes, trunks and food items free of charge.

The items were donated by the MP for the Ekumfi Constituency, Abeiku Crentsil, to support parents.

Abeiku Crentsil said the donation was a social intervention to help the students and parents in his constituency.

Source: YEN.com.gh