Deputy Minister – Private SHS teachers not qualified for public schools

• Posted on July 31, 2018
• by Ellsamwise King
• Comment

A Deputy Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum says the government will not send qualified Senior High School (SHS) students to private SHSs as part of measures aimed at solving the huge infrastructural deficit in public schools.

This is because the minister believes some of the teachers in the private SHSs do not qualify to teach at the public SHSs and so state resources, therefore, cannot be spent on them.

Speaking on Accra-based Citi FM Tuesday morning, Dr. Adutwum said he cannot vouch for the quality of education in the private SHSs, saying space alone is not enough grounds to guarantee quality education.

“Space does not educate children,” he said, adding “the teachers they (Private SHSs) have do not qualify to teach at the public schools”.

Dr. Adutwum was in the studios of Citi FM to discuss issues relating to the double intake of SHS students.

President Akufo-Addo has announced that government will implement the double intake system for new entrants into public SHSs September this as part of measures to address the growing number of students benefitting from the free SHS policy.

The double track system, according to President Akufo-Addo, would create room to accommodate the increase in enrolment, saying “It will reduce class sizes, increase the contact hours, as well as increase the number of holidays, and all this is going to be achieved with the existing infrastructure. So we are moving to this intervention to be able to accommodate this larger population of SHS students,”.

Dr. Adutwum explained that although the private sector plays a key role in many sectors of the country’s development, it is not government’s intention to offer students under the Free SHS programme to the private SHSs. 

He said there are two types of private schools in the country; the high performing schools and those that thrive on cut-off students. 

He explained that the high performing private SHSs do not have space, adding that “they have a waiting list; they do not have space.”