Old Tafo MP Vincent Ekow Assafuah has criticised government’s handling of the education sector, saying the current crisis surrounding the National Science and Maths Quiz (NSMQ) is part of a much deeper problem of institutional neglect and misplaced priorities.
His remarks follow a letter from the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS), dated October 3, 2025, announcing that schools would be unable to participate in this year’s NSMQ unless government releases funds to support them.
CHASS noted that without the needed financial support, schools could not mobilise or organise students for the competition.
Assafuah, reacting on social media, said the situation mirrors the “NSMQ blackout” of 2010 and 2011 when the contest was cancelled due to lack of funding.
“History is repeating itself,” he wrote. “In 2010 and 2011, Ghana failed to sustain this academic competition because there was no money.
“Fifteen years later, we are here again for the same reason.”
The MP accused government of neglecting not just the education sector but also health and labour.
“Teachers are on strike, nurses and midwives have gone months without pay, and over two hundred junior doctors have worked nearly a year without salary,” he said.
“When those who teach and those who heal are abandoned, the entire nation suffers.”
He contrasted this with what he called government’s “lavish spending on itself,” citing a sharp rise in budgetary allocations to the Office of Government Machinery.
“In 2024, about GH¢2.07 billion was allocated to the Presidency. In 2025, that figure jumped to over GH¢4.12 billion, a 100 percent increase,” he stated.
Assafuah said such priorities betray a disregard for the country’s human capital.
“While the Presidency enjoys more resources, our schools are struggling to feed students and our children are losing academic opportunities like the NSMQ,” he wrote. “This is betrayal, not leadership.”
