Private SHS teachers not qualified for public schools – Dep. Minister

A Deputy Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum has said that the government will not send qualified Senior High School (SHS) students to private SHSs as a way of solving the infrastructural challenge in public schools.

Dr Adutwum explained that the government has taken this stance because some of the teachers in the private SHSs are not qualified to teach any secondary school.

In an interview with Accra-based Citi FM, Dr Adutwum he cannot vouch for the quality of education in the private SHSs.

"Space does not educate children, the teachers they (Private SHSs) have do not qualify to teach at the public schools.”

His comments come after President Akufo-Addo announced that government will implement the double tracking system to solve the issue of increasing number of students benefitting from the free SHS policy.

President Akufo-Addo said “It will reduce class sizes, increase the contact hours, as well as increase the number of holidays, and all this is going to be achieved with the existing infrastructure. So we are moving to this intervention to be able to accommodate this larger population of SHS students.”

When asked why the government is not using the private SHSs in the free SHS programme, Dr Adutwum said it is not the government's intention to offer students under the Free SHS programme to the private SHSs.

He said there are two types of private schools in the country; the high performing schools and those that thrive on cut-off students.

He explained that the high performing private SHSs do not have space, adding that "they have a waiting list; they do not have space."