Veteran journalist and Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr., has called on the Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, to focus on eliminating elitism in Ghana’s education system rather than upgrading selected schools.
Speaking on Good Morning Ghana on Metro TV, Mr Pratt said the minister’s recent comment about upgrading lower-category schools to Category A institutions does not address the root of the problem.
“I don’t think that will solve the problem because there are still elite schools and non-elite schools,” he said.
“The whole effort should be aimed at eliminating elitism completely and making education accessible to everybody. We should be working to create parity in the quality of education across the country.”
Mr Pratt stressed that true educational reform must ensure fairness and equal opportunity for every Ghanaian child, regardless of background or location.
“All of us as citizens of the same country ought to have the same right to education,” he said.
“That means there must be equality of opportunity and equality of standards. I’m not so sure that what the minister is prescribing is the way out, that every now and then, you upgrade a few to join the elite.”
The Education Minister had earlier suggested that some lower-category schools could be upgraded to improve standards and close the gap between institutions. However, Mr Pratt believes that a piecemeal approach will only reinforce divisions instead of building a truly equal system.
He urged the ministry to adopt policies that uplift the entire education sector so that every school, regardless of location or history, offers the same quality of learning and opportunities to its students.
