Education Ministry needs serious ‘cleansing’ – Parents ‘advise’ Akufo-Addo

Some aggrieved parents who thronged the Black Star Square on Monday, over challenges with the placement of their wards, are calling on President Akufo-Addo to undertake an exercise to cleanse the education ministry.

Some of these parents who spoke to GhanaWeb said officials designated to work with frustrated parents and students to resolve their pending difficulties with the placement process are manipulating the system; affecting the quality and pace of service required from them.

They also attributed the slow pace of work to the inadequate machineries provided by the Ghana Education Service for officials to work with.

In an interview with one frustrated man, he stated that “it’s only two computers that the officials are working with. How can they service about 2,000 people who have thronged here. I think there should be a cleanup in the education office. If they don’t do this cleanup, this issue won't be resolved”.

He further said, “People have decided to sabotage the system. Before the JHS students will write the exam, an educational officer gave his number to me that anytime I’m in help, I should just contact him. I called him on Friday for help and his response was that, issue like this cost a lot, it is very expensive. I asked him how much, he said it would cost me 5,000 Ghana cedis. This shows clearly that people in the education ministry are frustrating the system”.

Another interviewee who explained to the team what is accounting for dragging process averted that, “the education ministry has little knowledge about their work. They don’t know their rights and they don’t work according to their task. They should all be sacked and be replaced with competent ones”.

He said, “how can someone acquire aggregate 50 and be enrolled in Achimota school, another gets 42 and is enrolled at Mfantsipim? We don’t understand. Someone gets aggregate 10, 6 and does not have placement. They are ignorant about their work so Akufo-Addo should sack these current ones and employ new ones if not, he’ll lose 2020 elections”.

Scores of parents and students alike were at the Black Star Square in Accra Monday morning to ‘fight’ for places for their wards as schools reopen. Many have complained about their placement choices; whilst some maintain they were not given their schools of choice despite their good grades, others have argued that they were ‘cheated’ and displaced.