They accused the Ministry of autocratic leadership and a refusal to consider alternative perspectives.

GNACOPS argues that the ruling New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) failure to retain power in the 2024 elections can partly be attributed to the Ministry’s mismanagement of the policy and its inability to address systemic issues within the education sector.

In a statement released on January 14, GNACOPS outlined a range of concerns regarding the implementation of the Free SHS policy.

A key issue was the Ministry’s failure to collaborate with private schools to address critical challenges, including resource allocation, feeding, and infrastructure development.

This lack of partnership, the council noted, left many pressing issues unresolved and hampered the overall effectiveness of the program.

The council also condemned the controversial 30% SHS Category A placement policy, which limited the access of students from private schools to top-tier public schools.

GNACOPS described the policy as discriminatory and divisive, undermining the program’s goal of providing equitable access to quality education.

Accusations of corruption in the student placement process further marred the Ministry’s credibility. GNACOPS alleged that political activists were appointed to key positions, creating an atmosphere of favoritism and mistrust among stakeholders.

The leadership style of the Ministry came under intense scrutiny, with GNACOPS describing it as autocratic and dismissive of feedback from teachers, school heads, and parents. This unwillingness to engage stakeholders in meaningful dialogue, they argued, exacerbated the negative effects of the policy.

The council noted that many basic schools were left in dire conditions while secondary education was prioritized to serve political agendas.

Additionally, the Ministry’s failure to communicate effectively with the public was highlighted as a significant issue.

GNACOPS pointed to frequent outages of official websites and social media platforms, which undermined transparency and eroded public trust.

In conclusion, GNACOPS emphasized that many of the challenges faced by the Free SHS policy could have been mitigated through greater collaboration, transparency, and a more inclusive leadership approach.

The council called on the Ministry of Education to reassess its strategies and engage all stakeholders in a bid to improve Ghana’s education system comprehensively.

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This comes after students were directed to go home following the spread of the Coronavirus disease in Ghana.

As a means to ensure the continuity of teaching and learning while students are at home, the outfit has asked all students to visit icampusgh.com to access the platform.

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They will have access to all core subjects and selected electives; have access to video lessons and notes as well as online tests at the end of each lesson.

The outfit urged all students, especially the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination candidates to take advantage of the platform. 

Read the details below:

 1. Visit icampusgh.com 

2. Enter your BECE index number ending with the year you completed as your username. Eg. 30907402517.

3 Enter ghana@12345 as your default password and click on log in

.4 You will be required to change the default password before you can continue using the platform. 

5. Click on View all courses to see the subjects available. Click on any of the courses available and enrol. 

Backing the decision of the school, the Ministry of Education said it was pleased the ‘bad nuts’ have been trashed to prevent them from corrupting the morals of the lot.

Public Relations Officer for the Ministry, Ekow Vincent, in a conversation with Adom TV’s Badwam clarified that schooling is not just academics but holistic education involving societal values, norms and morality.

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He ascribed the morally corruptible behavior of such students to lack of parental support and affection.

“If we will be truthful to ourselves you will know it is from upbringing. Most of these girls have not even had their father hug them before, talk less of ‘you’re looking good today’. They get excited when they find small boys with little in their pockets do such stuff,” he said.

He reiterated the need for Comprehensive Sex Education to make children aware of their sexual rights.

On his part, queenmother of Ejisu, Nana Yaa Asantewaa II, attributed the absurd behavior to the neglect of puberty rites.

The Ministry of Education (MoE) is of the opinion that former President John Dramani Mahama’s idea of prioritising Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) if re-elected into power is an indication he is ‘out of touch’.

Addressing a section of the media in response to Mr Mahama’s comments on TVET, Education Minister in-charge of TVET, Gifty Twum Ampofo explained the initiative is already a priority as government has invested huge sums of monies in the sector.

“Government has already made it a priority and has anchored some of its strategies on skills and TVET that is why it is upgrading all NVTIs, re-tooling the workshops in the Technical Universities and constructing 32 State of the Art TVET institutions across all regions of Ghana,” she responded.

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She said “all the Technical Universities and Polytechnics have been provided with State of the Art laboratories and workshops with equipment supplied by Amatrol Inc. These are equipment that meet industry 4.0 standards. Associated with this is the re-training of the lecturers and facilitators through training of trainers sessions.”

On claims by Mr Mahama that the E-blocks have been abandoned, Deputy Minister of Education in-charge of General Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum said 33 E-blocks have been completed under the Akufo-Addo-led government.