The President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Mr Angel Carbonu, has outlined key challenges in the education sector that require urgent attention from the Education Minister-designate, Haruna Iddrisu.

This comes after President John Dramani Mahama nominated the Tamale South MP as the Minister-designate for Education.

 Mr. Carbonu stressed the need for immediate stakeholder engagement and policy clarity, particularly concerning the implementation of the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) programme.

He emphasized that addressing these issues should be a top priority for the minister-designate once confirmed, adding that NAGRAT is ready to contribute to consultations to ensure effective implementation of educational policies.

“The immediate priority is the Free SHS programme, which has been a topical issue in the news.

The new government has promised to address it through stakeholder engagement to reach a national consensus on the way forward.

We are looking forward to that consultation forum so we can contribute meaningfully to the discussion.

That should be the immediate focus,” Mr Carbonu stated.

Beyond Free SHS, he also highlighted systemic challenges that continue to plague Ghana’s education sector, including infrastructure deficits, teacher compensation, and the decline in basic education standards due to years of neglect.

“The general challenge in education includes infrastructure, teacher welfare, and declining standards in basic education due to neglect.

These are longstanding issues, and we hope the minister-designate will take decisive steps to resolve them,” he added.

He spoke while speaking in an interview on Accra-based Citi FM