The 19 Achievements of NAPO as Education Minister outlined by the Education Ministry will amaze you.
The outgoing Education Minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh (NAPO) is exiting the Education Ministry with several achievements he can look back and be proud of.
From January 2017 when he rose to the highest office in the Education Ministry, many wondered if a Medical Doctor will make any positive impact in the ministry.
READ: 2020 BECE school placement: Check the likely date of release
19 Achievements of NAPO as Education Minister
It seems NAPO proved his critics wrong although a section of teachers and educators, in general, were not excited with some decisions he took.
Per the Education Ministry, the achievements of NAPO as a Minister of Education between 2017-2020 are as follows.
1. Colleges of Education now run 4-Year Bachelor of Education programs.
2. Teacher trainees will now graduate with Bachelor’s degrees, and will not need to take study leave to go back to acquire the degree.
3. The national audit of skills has been completed by the Council for Technical and Vocational Education Training (COTVET).
4. E-Learning portal developed (www.icampusgh.com) and includes all SHS 1-3 core subjects. The website is live.
5. Teacher recruitment since 2017 is now done at regional levels
6. Documentation is done at District and Regional levels.
7. Another Achievements of NAPO as Education Minister is the Restoration Teacher Allowances.
8. Restored allowances were also paid to Arabic/Islamic instructors under the national volunteer service programme.
9. Restore book and research allowances for lecturers were catered for. They have not only been restored, but they have also been increased by 200%.
10. The regime also introduced History of Ghana as a subject for primary schools in the Curriculum which has been approved by the Cabinet. Over 180 Master Trainers, 3,900 District level Trainers, and 152,000 teachers have been trained for this purpose.
Other Achievements of NAPO as Education Minister include…
11. In other achievements it Integrates school sports as part of school activities: Free PE kits are being provided to students under the Free SHS programme.
12. It also abolished the payment of utility bills by students; and the Tertiary Education Policy also abolished the payment of utility bills in tertiary Institutions.
13. The era also redefined basic education from Kindergarten to include SHS, covering vocational, agricultural, and technical schools.
14. Government also absorbed BECE examination fees in 2018: WASSCE examination fees absorbed in 2020.
15. The student loan amount has been increased by 50% and ranges between GHc1, 500 and GHc3, 000.
16. Construction of 163 Kindergartens awarded out of which 77 have been completed to date.
17. Manuals were prepared for basic schools and 80% of SHSs have coordinators. Same is planned for all school.
18. Faith-Based Organisations (FBOs) were also engaged and MoU drafted and was under review.
19. Previously, teachers who upgraded their qualifications and skills were not recognised and promoted on time; a divorce from hitherto several years of bureaucratic delays.
Effects of the Achievements of NAPO as Education Minister on Ghana’s Education
• The waiting period before promotion of teachers who upgrade their qualifications and skills is now halved to 2 years. The waiting period for all others is 4 Years.
• For the first time in history, teachers are being paid a professional teachers allowance.
- TVET Qualification Framework developed.
- 80 institutions accredited to run Competency Based Training (CBT) programmes.
- Engaging Technical Universities to run CBTs.
- To support TVET education, we are building 32 state-of-the-art TVET centres, and
- A Basic STEM (B-STEM) programme to provide science labs in all basic schools to enhance the teaching of STEM subjects from an early age has been rolled out.
ICT is now compulsory in all Teacher Training Colleges. - To date 313,250 basic school students have been introduced to basic coding
- Coding introduced at 25 SHSs and equipment supplies in progress
- A US$1.5B loan, of which US$500M has been disbursed, has been secured on the back of GETFund to develop educational infrastructure. Massive infrastructure development across educational institutions currently ongoing
- Completion of the construction and commissioning of Phase I of the Somanya campus of the University of Environment and Sustainable Development (UESD). Funding for Phase II of the campus has been secure and work commenced.
- School management committees to be trained in effective school management
- School heads trained in instructional leadership and accountability
- Circuit Supervisors will become School Improvement Officers, and
- 10,000 schools have been selected for the first phase.
READ: 2020 BECE school placement: Check the likely date of release
NAPO was adjudged the best Minister by the Akufo-Addo government, through a monitoring and evaluation scheme put together by the Ministry of Monitoring and Evaluation headed by Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei.