Yaw Osei Adutwum

Yaw Osei Adutwum taught maths for ten years at Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles and founded a group of charter schools in California before returning home to politics. From 2021 to January 2025 he was Ghana's Minister for Education.

Early life and education

He was born on 9 April 1964 at Jachie in the Ashanti Region and attended Kumasi High School. He studied land economy at KNUST before moving to the United States, where he earned a master's in education management at the University of La Verne and a PhD in educational policy at the University of Southern California.

Educator in Los Angeles

At Manual Arts he set up the International Studies Academy and was lead maths teacher on a USC academic initiative. In September 2004 he founded New Designs Charter Schools in California, and he served on a National Research Council task force on career and technical education.

Politics

He won the Bosomtwe seat for the New Patriotic Party in 2016 with 85.8 per cent of the vote and has held it since, re-elected in 2020 and 2024. He was Deputy Minister for Education from 2017 to 2021 and then Minister until 6 January 2025, when Haruna Iddrisu succeeded him. He promoted a programme of STEM senior high schools, the first of which opened in 2022, and funds scholarships for engineering and medical students from Bosomtwe. He is married with one child.