Education Minister break silence on role in SHS placement sale

Minister for Education, Yaw Osei Adutwum following an allegation that his login details were used to access the 2021 Computer school placement system for TVET/SHS placement sale activities, says he is unaware of any such exercise.

In a discussion monitored by AcademicWeek, the Education Minister said the claims by the former Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, Prof Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa that his password was used to access the system is untrue.

Adutuwm’s comment comes after Opoku-Amankwa told The Fourth Estate he noticed the 2021 placement fraud and reported it to the National Intelligence Bureau and the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service for investigation.

“If there is fraud in the matter, then I, as the Director-General, and the minister should take responsibility. I fully accept and agree, but I knew that I was part of it and I wanted to actually make sure that there were no challenges with it,” Prof told The Estate.

The Fourth Estate sources say Ghana Police Service investigations on the SHS placement sale were stopped by “powers from above hence Mr Opoku-Amankwa could not pursue this matter to the end and was removed from office.

In other news, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum says this year computerised school placement of students who sat for the 32nd edition of the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) will be a free and fair process.

Speaking in an interview monitored by AcademicWeek, Mr Adutwum said his outfit in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service, CSSPS and Free SHS Secretariat has put in place adequate measures for a smooth placement.

“We will work with the security agencies to ensure this year’s computer school placement is flawless and that nobody, nobody will be able to take advantage of the Free Senior High School (Free SHS),” the Minister for Education said.

His assurance comes after an investigation by the Fourth Estate indicated last year’s second-cycle school computer placement was monetized by some individuals who claim to be officials from the Ministry of Education (MoE).

According to the Estate’s report, computer placement into Category A or what could best be described as Top Senior High Schools (SHSs) in the country was sold from GH₵10,000 up to GH₵ 7,000 by the self-acclaimed MoE officials.