Dr Adutwum receives standing ovation during a public lecture at UniMAC

The Education Minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, on Tuesday received a standing ovation at the auditorium of the University of Media, Arts and Communication in Accra.The standing ovation was bestowed on the Minister after he delivered a one hour, ten minutes lecture with videos, pictures and a solid presentation on the state of education in the country.

Describing the presentation as ‘evidence-based communication’, Dr Adutwum spent time explaining to the audience in the packed auditorium of the university, who sporadically applauded him for the evidence of what the government was doing in the education sector in the country.

He explained that the ‘evidence-based communication’ was aimed at making the entire populace understand and appreciate what the government was doing in the education sector so that they would appreciate what their taxes were being used for.

Address

The Education Minister spent time enumerating the various initiatives that have been introduced into the nation’s education sector with the view to making Ghanaian students match up with the 21st century education standard.

He mentioned the introduction of STEM education, revamping of TVET education, Pre-Engineering courses in some universities, introduction of aviation courses at the SHS, robotics and stocking of science laboratories of Senior High Schools in the country to promote effective teaching and learning.

Dr Adutwum also showed pictures and videos of newly constructed school infrastructure as well as the rehabilitation of old facilities to enhance effective teaching and learning in some schools across the country.

The Education Minister stated that the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo government has since 2017 been investing heavily in the education sector with the view to creating an enabling environment to foster quality education at all levels in the country.

Support

The Acting Vice Chancellor of UniMAC, Prof.

Eric Opoku Mensah, assured the nation of their readiness to continue training the right personnel to support the gross domestic product for the country.

He appealed to the Education Minister to help improve infrastructure development at the UniMAC campus to boost effective teaching and learning.

Let’s do away with ‘slash and burn politics’ in the country

Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, has appealed to politicians in the country to do away with what he described as ‘slash and burn politics’ in the country.

He explained that for the country to grow well, there was the need for politicians to desist from peddling falsehoods about their political opponents for political expediency knowing definitely that all that they were saying was not true.

Dr Adutwum reiterated the need for politicians to begin lauding their political opponents when they do something good so that the people would begin to appreciate the role of the politicians in the nation’s development.

The Public Lecture which had the theme “Education for development and social change: opportunities and prospects in TVET and STEM”, was organized by UniMAC and was attended by the academia, politicians, students and other stakeholders in the nation’s education.

He explained for instance that he has on several occasions lauded the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for introducing the E-Block concept but complained about its locations which made it very difficult for most of them to be patronized.

The Education Minister stated that out of its conviction, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government has completed a certain number of the E-Blocks and also added boarding facilities to some of them to make them much more useable so it could admit students from across the country.

Dr Adutwum mentioned that the current state of education development in the country was on point and stated that it had already started bearing more fruit, citing the outcomes of West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results for the past five years as evidence to the improvement in the education sector.

He described the TVET and the STEM programmes in the nation’s education as very crucial towards the social transformation of the country and urged all and sundry to accept and support teaching and learning in the country.

Responding to questions after the lecture, the Education Minister called on Ghanaians to retain the NPP government in power so it would continue with the ongoing development initiatives which have been shaping the fortunes of the nation’s economy.

The Council Chairman of UniMAC, Prof.

Kwesi Yanka, commended Dr Adutwum for his vision and the effort he was making towards the transformation of the nation’s economy through education.

The Council Chairman who is also a former Minister for Education added his voice to the call for the politicians to put a stop to the ‘slash and burn politics’ in the country since it makes it difficult for the Ghanaians to trust and respect all politicians due to insults each other.