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Education Minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh has told dignitaries at this year’s Innovation Africa Summit that Ghana’s education sector under the Mahama-led government was ‘miserable’.

The event is an important platform for African decision-makers in education and Information and Communications Technology [ICT].

Speaking at the summit held in Accra, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh said the education sector before the NPP came to government was “bleak” after giving figures to back his claims.

“Teacher absenteeism rate stood at 30% (30% - 9%). 45% of all candidates failed Mathematics in 2015 Only 2% of Primary 2 pupils were found to be proficient in reading in 2013 and 2015, per Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA), 25% of Primary 6 pupils were proficient in English, There were huge outstanding bills from unpaid capitation grants, supply of textbooks and school uniforms, laptops and vehicles, among others, amounting to over $71m.”

“About 100,000 children a year who passed the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and were placed in senior high schools did not take up their offer, primarily due to financial reasons. This represented 28-30% of all BECE candidates. There was no graduate teacher recruitment between 2012 and 2015.The teacher trainee allowance, a core component of teacher training education in this country for many years, had been abolished.”  He said