The Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Technical and Vocation Education and Training (TVET), Gifty Twum-Ampofo, has said “sorry” to teachers about recent comments attributed to her and said to have ruffled feathers in the teaching fraternity.
While addressing the 175th anniversary of the Akropong Presbyterian College in the Eastern Region over the weekend, Madam Twum-Ampofo is reported to have blamed teachers for the struggling economy.
“Research has proved that a country’s Gross Tertiary Enrollment has a lot to do with the GDP of the country. The performance of the economy depends on the Gross Tertiary Enrollment. So the teacher is to be blamed for the poor economy not the Finance Minister,” she is quoted as saying.
But the Abuakwa North Member of Parliament (MP), despite admitting the statement, said she uttered them in passing and did not mean to downgrade the efforts of teachers.
“I will never take teachers for granted in my life because I am a teacher and I don’t regret being a teacher,” she said on TV3‘s New Day on Tuesday, July 4.
She said as a Christian, she will never set out to deliberately hurt anyone by her words.
“I haven’t denied that but what I am saying is it is unfortunate that people that you are praising, you could quickly jump to accuse them. It was a fact-finding and I stated that.
“I can’t hurt teachers and as a Christian if you do something or you say something you don’t mean to hurt anybody, so if the people are hurt I am sorry.”