The Deputy Ranking Member on the Education Committee of Parliament Dr. Clement Apaak has questioned the motive behind Education Minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum’s order to all headmasters to fix portraits of himself and President Akufo-Addo in their offices.
According to Mr Adutwum, this will make students familiarise themselves with the faces of the President and sector minister.
Sharing his experience as Deputy Minister in President Akufo-Addo’s first term he told Dzifa Bampoh on the First Take Show on 3FM Thursday, April 22 “I just want to, first of all, thank God for this opportunity and thank the president for the confidence reposed in me to put me in this unique situation to be able to spearhead the attainment of his vision for education transformation in Ghana.
“Four years was great, it was an exciting time for me, very busy schedule visiting classrooms unannounced and teaching some classes. It was exciting that you could interact with the children, you see the joy in their faces when they get to know at that time, the deputy minister for education and then you had to explain to them. Because when you enter the campus, invariably you don’t see the picture of the president, something that I am going to be working on, at least in the headmaster’s office the picture of the Minister for Education is not there.
Asked what the picture of the President and the Minister will do to the students, he answered “They could not understand who you are so you have to start and ask who the President of Ghana is. Some of them will get it right, some will get it wrong and then you drill it down to the point where they will appreciate who you are.
“Once they get to know who you are they get excited. If you go to most public offices you the see the president picture, the Coat of Arms, civics, it gets you to appreciate the country that you are growing up in. as a child…It is very important to let them know that the picture they see, one day it will be their picture.”
Reacting to this, Dr Apaak wondered why a minister who had been praised and recommended for his job would suddenly get it all wrong.
He expressed his disappointment in Adutwum and charged him to get his priorities right.
“Our basic schools: have no books two years after the introduction of a new curriculum; lack adequate furniture; students study in dilapidated structures; rural schools have no teachers, And your concern is to have Portraits in schools? I’m disappointed!” he exclaimed.
Source: GhanaFeed.com