Education Minister chides Jane for WASSCE leakage comments

Minister of Education Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum has taken a swipe at a former Minister of Education, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, for her recent comments on the Free Education Program.

In an interview with Woezor TV last week, the 2020 Vice Presidential Candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) said the 2020 West African Senior Schools Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) was characterized by widespread cheating and there was no justification for Ghanaians to celebrate the passes.

“We have also heard and seen students who wrote an exam, came out and it was like, you know we had an earthquake in this country, it wasn’t like one school or two schools. . .this same group’s performance is supposed to be outstanding that we shouldn’t be talking, it is the group I am referring to and they went and wrote the exams.

“We heard of the leakage of the exams, we heard of invigilators being compromised, we heard many things and we also saw the students come out and speak about ‘no this is not what we were told will happen’. Now these students have As and we are happy? It is up to us.”

But speaking on Accra-based Peace FM on Monday, June 7, Dr. Yaw Adutwum lamented politics appears to have blinded a lot of people so much that good policies are criticized without justification.

“For me if NDC do good, I will not shy away from saying it,” the Bosomtwe Member of Parliament said in Twi, “and what I am also doing must be trumpeted. It is left for Ghanaians to judge.”

On that score, the Minister praised some of the E-blocks initiated by the Mahama administration, citing the Kwabenya Community Day Senior High School as one that has been helpful to the community.

Dr. Adutwum said Prof Opoku-Agyemang was wrong to water down the performance of the students and it is even an affront to their teachers, who worked hard to achieve those feats.