By Enock Akonnor Managing Editor enockakonnor2013@gmail.com
+233 541921562
Ghana’s former Minister for Education, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has been awarded the prestigious 2020 Harvard Ministerial Medal of Achievement in recognition of his transformative leadership and historic reforms in Ghana’s education sector.
The award, given under the Harvard Ministerial Leadership Program, honors outstanding government leaders who have made significant strides in delivering impactful public policy.
Although announced in 2020, the physical presentation of the award was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Prempeh, popularly known as “Napo”, officially received the honor in person at this year’s Ministerial Leadership Forum.
Dr. Prempeh, who served as Ghana’s Minister for Education from 2017 to 2021, was lauded particularly for his leadership in implementing the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy; a flagship initiative of the government that provided free secondary education to all qualified Ghanaian students.
The program covered 41 essential items including tuition, boarding, meals, and textbooks.
Appointed in February 2017, Dr. Prempeh joined the Harvard Ministerial Leadership Program just four months later in June.
By September that same year, only seven months into his role, he had rolled out the Free SHS policy nationwide, drastically increasing access to secondary education across Ghana.
“In the first year of Free SHS, dropout rates in the South fell to match the North. Over 100,000 students each year, who would have been on the streets, were now in school,” he said during the Forum.
Reflecting on the impact of the Harvard program on his leadership, Dr. Prempeh noted, “Harvard opened my eyes to delivery units, stakeholder mapping, and rapid implementation. It showed me how to track every detail, so nothing slipped through… The programme gave me the confidence, tools, and global perspective needed to execute my mandate successfully.”
The Harvard Ministerial Leadership Program is a collaborative initiative designed to support sitting ministers in developing effective leadership strategies, promoting peer learning, and fostering results-oriented governance. It provides a platform for current and former ministers to share insights, challenges, and solutions drawn from real-world experiences.
Dr. Prempeh returned to this year’s Forum not only as an honoree but also as a mentor and resource for new participants, sharing his journey and lessons learned from leading a major national education reform.
The recognition cements Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh’s legacy as a key architect of one of Ghana’s most significant education reforms in recent history and underscores the global appreciation for innovative public leadership that drives meaningful change.
Source; www.leakyghana.com
Enock Akonnor is an experienced Ghanaian journalist, based in Kumasi and currently serves as the CEO and Managing Editor of www.leakyghana.com.
With a wealth of expertise built over many years in the media industry, he has earned a solid reputation as one of Ghana’s most sought-after journalists.
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✉️ enockakonnor2013@gmail.com
