Adutwum Slams Politicians for Weaponising Free SHS Promise
Former Education Minister Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum has launched a searing indictment of Ghana’s political class, describing politicians as the principal saboteurs of credible secondary education reform. Speaking with uncharacteristic candour on national television, the former cabinet minister warned that the desperate quest for electoral advantage has plunged the Free Senior High School policy into a credibility crisis from which escape will be tortuous.
Dr Adutwum lamented that populist grandstanding has supplanted evidence-based stewardship, arguing that when political actors vow anything merely to secure ballots, they inevitably entrap themselves in a policy quagmire. He encapsulated his frustration with the blunt declaration that politicians remain the worst adversaries of sustainable SHS advancement, a system now strained by infrastructure deficits, funding volatility and doctrinaire positioning.
The intervention carries weighty resonance. As the technocrat who superintended Ghana’s education portfolio during the most expansive phase of Free SHS, Dr Adutwum presided over enrolment surges, double-track mitigation and curriculum recalibration. His critique therefore punctures the prevailing partisan orthodoxy, suggesting that bipartisan opportunism rather than pedagogical inadequacy has imperilled quality assurance, equity and fiscal sustainability.
Analysts contend his remarks illuminate a deeper structural malaise within Ghana’s educational political economy, where manifesto pledges eclipse actuarial costing and stakeholder consultation. The former minister implied that politicisation has eroded institutional autonomy, disincentivised honest discourse on cost-sharing and deferred urgent conversations about teacher deployment, learning outcomes and infrastructural resilience.
The commentary is poised to reignite national deliberation on whether Ghana should depoliticise secondary education financing and restore technocratic stewardship to the centre of reform. With public universities and basic schools similarly buffeted by resource constraints, Dr Adutwum’s broadside could catalyse a more sober bipartisan compact ahead of future electoral cycles.
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Author: Korkor Anumu
