Kofi Asare, Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, has called on Ghana’s Education Minister-designate, Haruna Iddrisu, to address the persistent education gap between the northern and southern regions of the country.
In a statement, Asare highlighted the urgent need to bridge the generational divide in both access to and quality of education.
Asare pointed out that the five northern regions, along with Oti and Western North, remain the most deprived in terms of education. These regions face significant challenges, including over 4,000 schools operating under trees, over one million pupils lacking adequate desks, severe textbook shortages, teacher deficits, and a high percentage of out-of-school children.
With Haruna Iddrisu being the first Education Minister-designate from the northern part of Ghana, Asare sees this appointment as a critical opportunity to tackle these disparities head-on. He stressed that Iddrisu has a unique chance to address the long-standing inequities in the educational system.
While offering his support to the incoming minister, Asare made it clear that he would hold Iddrisu accountable for the implementation of policies and follow-through on promises made, particularly the 140 education pledges outlined in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) manifesto. Asare’s call to action highlights the pressing need for concrete steps to ensure equal educational opportunities for all Ghanaian children, regardless of their region.
Read His Post Below
Earlier today, i received a call from the Minister of Education nominee informing Eduwatch of his nomination, and courting our support.
Unlike the outgone Minister who was my friend, I have never met Hon. Haruna in person. I however know him to be an influential development advocate and former student leader. He has also been Minister before.
I congratulated him for his nomination and welcomed him to the hot seat.
His nomination reminds me of the late Hon. Baah Wiredu of blessed memory; an accountant who in my opinion, became one of the best things to happen at the Ministry of Education.
To succeed at that Ministry, you must be a good manager, organizer, listener and influencer-managing the resources, including the expertise available to implement your policies, and using your advocacy skills to influence resource allocation to education.
I assured him of Eduwatch’s support for building an education system which is accountable, equitable and efficient.
If approved, with good memory on my side, Haruna will be the first Minister of Education from the Northern part of Ghana in the 4th Republic.
The five northern sector regions, Oti and Western North represents the most deprived regions in education in Ghana.
The 7 regions have the highest number of schools under trees (over 4k), pupils without adequate desks (over 1m), pupils without textbooks, teacher deficits and percentage out of school children.
Eduwatch is ready to support in bridging the generational north-south divide in education access and quality, while demanding accountability for policy actions and inactions, including the 140 promises in the NDC’s education manifesto.
With support from the British Government, Eduwatch has just commenced a project on Manifesto Promise to Policy Transition (M2P), aiming to provide technical assistance to the new government in translating promises into policies.
We wish him well.
