The Deputy Communications Officer for the NDC, Malik Basintale, has downplayed the records of Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh in the Education sector when he served as the minister.
He stated that NAPO only introduced what he describes as archaic systems in the education sector of the country during his tenure as minister.
This comes after the Deputy Minister for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, Vincent Ekow Assafuah, compared Dr. Opoku Prempeh’s credentials to those of Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, the running mate for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
He highlighted Dr. Opoku Prempeh’s achievements as Education Minister, including the restoration of teacher trainee allowances and the payment of debts owed to special schools and school feeding programmes.
Assafuah believes Dr. Opoku Prempeh’s track record makes him a better option than Professor Opoku-Agyemang.
However, Malik Basintale of the NDC disagreed with Ekow Assafuah’s comparison.
Contrary to Assafuah’s assertions, Basintale, in an interview with Umaru Sanda on Eyewitness News, argued that it was under Professor Opoku-Agyemang’s leadership that significant strides were made in the education sector.
He credited her with the conversion of tertiary schools into degree-awarding institutions—a first in Ghana’s history—and also with the construction of community senior high schools.
“It was under Prof. Naana Jane’s regime that tertiary schools, training colleges, and polytechnics were converted into full tertiary institutions and started awarding degree certificates; it had never happened before in the history of this country.
“It was under Prof. Naana Jane’s regime that we cancelled the shift system in our educational system only for NAPO, who wants to be selected as a running mate of Bawumia, to reintroduce an archaic system in our senior high schools and education to the extent that students will even go on vacation, some will have to stay in the house for about 6 months before they go back to school.
“It was under NAPO’s regime that an archaic system Naana Jane cancelled; it was NAPO who reintroduced these into our education system. So, we can have that comparison too,” he stated.
