The Office of Education Minister Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum has dismissed recent claims by Dr. Kwabena Bempah Tandoh, a former Deputy Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), that the Minister’s leadership undermined the implementation of the Free Senior High School (SHS) programme.

In a statement signed by Yaw Opoku Mensah, spokesperson for Dr. Adutwum, Dr. Tandoh’s assertions are described as “misleading” and a misrepresentation of how the Ministry of Education and its agencies operate.

According to the statement, the Chief Director of the Ministry has always served as the Chief Technical Advisor, supported by heads of implementing agencies.

It stressed that technical staff, including deputies like Dr. Tandoh, were actively engaged in policy formulation through platforms such as the Ministerial Advisory Committee.

“It is mischievous to suggest that technical expertise was sidelined,” the release stated.

The statement credited Dr. Adutwum with safeguarding the Free SHS policy, describing it as one of Ghana’s most transformative social interventions.

Operational challenges, such as food distribution, it added, fell under the National Buffer Stock Company and the Commodities Exchange, not the Ministry of Education.

On rising enrolments, the release emphasised that Dr. Adutwum personally championed the Double Track system, modelled on interventions he had led in the United States, and formally launched in Tamale in 2018.

Highlighting a string of reforms, the statement cited:

Introduction of non-science students into engineering via the pre-engineering programme.

Expansion of STEM education initiatives.

Launch of the National Standardised Test.

Implementation of serialisation to combat exam malpractice.

Retooling of TVET institutions.

Establishment of Communities of Excellence and the National Education Leadership Institute.

It further pointed to Ghana’s ranking as second-best in Africa for quality education in the Mo Ibrahim Index (October 2024) as proof of Dr. Adutwum’s impact.

The statement suggested that Dr. Tandoh’s criticism was politically motivated, noting his public alignment with a preferred NPP presidential candidate.

“Resorting to intellectual dishonesty in an attempt to downplay Dr. Adutwum’s achievements is both unfortunate and unpatriotic.

Education should rise above partisan considerations,” the spokesperson said.

Concluding, the statement described Dr. Adutwum as “the most impactful Education Minister in Ghana’s Fourth Republic”, urging Ghanaians to celebrate his legacy and sustain reforms for the benefit of the nation’s children.