Kwesi Pratt gives blunt assessment of international school graduates

The Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, has expressed concern about what he describes as a growing social trend in Ghana’s education system, where students from local authority schools tend to live more disciplined and decent lives than their counterparts from international schools.

According to him, many students who attend international schools end up engaging in wayward lifestyles, including drug abuse and indiscipline, despite their privileged backgrounds.

Speaking on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana and monitored by GhanaWeb on October 15, 2025, Pratt shared his observations while reacting to recent comments by Minister of Education Haruna Iddrisu about plans to upgrade lower category schools to Category A status.

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“I have noticed a certain trend where those who go to the local authority schools tend to make decent lives for themselves, whereas a lot of those who go to the international schools end up as drug addicts and wayward,” he indicated.

He attributed part of the problem to the exposure and lifestyles within certain privileged environments, stressing that the education system must focus on character formation and equality of opportunity rather than social prestige.

Pratt further stated that the emphasis should be on ensuring that all schools across the country meet a uniform standard rather than being categorised based on wealth or location.

He cited the Nkrumah-era model of uniform school development as a good example of equitable education policy.

“I think what we ought to do is to build schools with uniform standards throughout the country and for everybody, like the Nkrumah government did. The previous government under Akufo-Addo tried to reduce the influence of parent-teacher associations on school development because schools in wealthier areas had more resources from parents, while others struggled. That policy made sense,” he noted.

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Pratt emphasised that the quality of education should not depend on how much parents can contribute, adding that there are numerous examples of students from less privileged schools excelling in science and mathematics, challenging the notion that elite schools always produce better outcomes.

MRA/VPO

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