'Let’s work in concert to address Africa’s education challenges' – Dr. Adutwum

Ghana's Minister for Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, has advocated concerted efforts by governments and education authorities to address the common challenges confronting education delivery in Africa.

According to him, education administration and management challenges are common to countries on the continent, requiring a spirited and united approach to tackle them.

Speaking during a courtesy call on him by the Minister for Primary, Secondary, and Technical Education of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tony Mwaba Kazadi, in Accra, Dr. Adutwum said that with a pan-African approach, a lot can be achieved in the removal of bottlenecks confronting efficient teaching, learning, and research on the continent.

Mr. Kazadi is leading a Congolese government delegation on a working visit to Ghana to study ongoing reforms and strategies in the country's education sector.

Dr. Adutwum told the visiting team that the government of Ghana is taking the bull by the horns to ensure that no child of school-going age is deprived of education and that issues of quality, innovation, and technological advancement are not overlooked.

The Congolese Minister congratulated Ghana on implementing numerous steps and interventions to ensure access, equity, and quality.

He observed that through some progressive strategies, Ghana has led the way in education transformation on the continent.

He described Ghana's recent efforts to overhaul its education sector to align it with the growing quest for technology-driven education globally as inspiring.

"We are in Ghana for a noble reason; Ghana inspires us in the DRC with your school feeding programme. Our President has decided to introduce same in our country to keep our students in school. Our President and Prime Minister have also decided to introduce free education in high schools and because Ghana is already implementing same, we decided to come here to learn the lessons", he told the press.

The visiting minister said Congo DR is keen to learn about Ghana's adaptation of technology into its education space and cited, in particular, ongoing project to transform educational facilities into smart schools.



"The quality of education we give to our children today has to be relevant to tomorrow's technological advancements. That is why our government asked us to come to Ghana to learn about the technology solutions you are deploying in your schools and universities to make teaching and learning top-notch, like the Ghana Smart Schools Project being executed by a company called K A Technology."

"We have realized that the challenges are the same; therefore, the solutions can be the same. We must not sit in our different countries looking for solutions when we could explore what has worked for our counterparts on the continent," he said.

While in Ghana, Mr. Kazadi and his delegation will tour some educational facilities and other ICT infrastructure and discuss with people in the education sector.

He has since visited Accra Girls and Achimota Schools in Accra, where he interacted with student beneficiaries of the One-Student-One-Tablet initiative launched by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo last month.