Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu has dismissed suggestions that President John Dramani Mahama has abandoned him at his current position, insisting instead that the President deliberately assigned him to one of the most critical cabinet ministries to resolve its systemic challenges — a task he says he is on course to deliver.
His comments come in the wake of speculation that the Tamale South Member of Parliament, who is rumoured to harbour presidential ambitions, was posted to the education sector to fail — a plot critics claim is designed to dent his presidential dream should he not deliver.
But speaking in an exclusive interview on TV3’s Newday programme on Friday, Iddrisu brushed aside the speculations completely, describing them as unfounded and without basis.
Warning on Sale of School Placement, Recruitment
During the interview, which focused largely on school placement challenges, the BECE and WASSCE results concerns, as well as educational infrastructure, the Minister issued a strong caution to parents and guardians not to pay money to anyone to secure placements for their wards in schools they have not been posted to, or to facilitate recruitment into the sector.
He revealed that two persons engaged in the sale of recruitment have already been apprehended and handed over to the police.
“If you have the evidence, share with us; we’ll deal ruthlessly and decisively with any person selling placement — even recruitment. There are reported cases of it,” he said.
“I can imagine the frustration on the faces of students and parents. Any parent or student who has been asked to pay money for placement must report that number — the telephone number making the demand — and the person to the Police CID. Placements are being trusted with more sharing numbers. If somebody says pay for placement, they would have given you a mobile number, so share the number with us, then we can subject it to investigation and deal ruthlessly with the person”, he added.
850,000 Vacancies Declared — ‘Every Qualified Student Will Be Placed’
The Minister stressed that the ministry and the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) have repeatedly educated the public that the placement process is free of charge, disclosing that more than 850,000 vacancies have been declared nationwide — a figure exceeding the total number of students who sat for and passed the BECE.
“The CSSPS secretariat and my media team have repeatedly announced to the Ghanaian public that placement is free, and I’m stating unequivocally that we have declared 850,000 vacancies across the country, more than the number of students who will write BECE and will pass BECE,” he said.
According to him, the yearly confusion is not caused by a shortage of spaces but by parents and students rejecting the schools to which they have been placed.
“So it is not even a question of no vacancies. Let me assure you, we have declared over 850,000 vacancies, and every qualified student is eligible to be admitted into a secondary school of a sort — either Category A, B or C. The crisis is a matter of choice — saying that I don’t want this school, I don’t want that school, I want a Category A school,” he explained.
By Gifty Boateng