Blame teachers for Ghana’s bad economy and not Ken Ofori-Atta – Deputy Education Minister

Teachers are to blame for Ghana’s current economic situation, according to Gifty Twum-Ampofo, the deputy minister of education in charge of Technician and Vocational Education Training (TVET).

She said that if the economy is struggling, Ghanaians shouldn’t place the responsibility on Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta.

According to her, studies have demonstrated that a nation’s gross tertiary enrollment ratio significantly affects that nation’s GDP.

“So, for our instructors, for our lecturers here, we see that once you have that responsibility and you get so much committed [to it], then you are sure that the gross tertiary enrolment ratio will definitely increase, and once that increases, the GDP of the country will increase,” Gifty Twum-Boafo said at the 175th-anniversary of the Presbyterian College of Education, Akropong, in the Eastern Region on the theme: ‘175 years of education, honouring our past, celebrating the present and shaping the future’.

She indicated that “And for this simple reason, if the economy is not doing well it is not the economists, it is the teachers. Let me say that again if the economy is not doing well, it is not the finance minister, it is not the economist, it is the teacher because the performance of the economy depends on the country’s gross tertiary enrollment ratio,” she told the gathering.”

She stressed that “Let me say that again: If the economy is not doing well, it is not the finance minister, it is not the economy but it is the teacher because the performance of the economy depends on the country’s gross tertiary enrolment ratio.”

Twum Ampofo indicated that countries with a gross tertiary enrolment at 40 percent and above have a ‘fantastic’ GDP, “but those of us who have it lower, the economy is struggling”.