Former Education Minister and Member of Parliament for Bosomtwe, Yaw Osei Adutwum, has revealed that he did not grow up with defined childhood ambitions, citing limited exposure to professional role models in his rural upbringing.

Speaking in an interview on The Career Trail, aired on Joy Learning TV and JoyNews, he explained that life in his village offered few examples of careers that could shape the aspirations of children.

“The interesting thing is that in the villages, we didn’t have that much of a dream. The only time I met a doctor was when I went to the hospital. There was no doctor from my town. When I was growing up, there was no medical doctor that I knew. I was not aspiring. I didn’t have that. When I look back, there was nothing about what I wanted to be,” he said.

Despite this, Dr Adutwum recalled the strong influence of his father, who actively encouraged education within the community and used his own life experiences as a cautionary example for children to pursue schooling.

“When I was in class three, my dad would come home from his travels. He would go to his farm and sometimes stay for over a year, then come back to Jachie to see us.

“Whenever he came to Jachie, he would get permission from the head teacher and go around all the classrooms advising the children to study, using his life as an example that he didn’t get the opportunity for education. So if they had it, they should study hard,” he said.

He also recounted a childhood memory that left a lasting impression on him after his father relayed feedback from his head teacher about his academic ability.

“One day, my dad came home and said he had spoken with my head teacher and was told I was super bright. At the time, my head teacher mentioned something like university, but my father didn’t really understand what that meant. So he came and told me, ‘You are bright; you will go to the last school,’” he shared.

Dr Adutwum said the phrase remained with him throughout his formative years, even though he did not fully grasp its meaning at the time.

“My father telling me I was bright and that I would go to the last school is something that stayed with me and I never forgot. I didn’t even know what the last school was, but I was happy I would go there,” he recalled.

He noted that his upbringing was not shaped by structured career planning, but rather by encouragement, discipline, and a strong emphasis on education instilled by his father.

Dr Adutwum later progressed through Jachie Pramso Senior High School, Kumasi High School, and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, turning what began as a simple childhood remark about “the last school” into a distinguished academic and public service career.