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Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang


Professor Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang Professor Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang Professor Jane Naana Opoku A
Date of Birth:
1951-11-22
Place of Birth:
Cape Coast, Ghana

Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang born 22 November 1951 in Cape Coast, Ghana is a former Minister for Education in Ghana. She was appointed in 2013 by President John Mahama after the 2012 Ghanaian general election and served until January 2017 when the Nana Akuffo-Addo administration was elected to power. She is a member of the National Democratic Congress.

Professor Opoku-Agyemang, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, was the first female Vice-Chancellor of a state University in Ghana. She assumed duty on 1 October 2008, succeeding Emmanuel Addow-Obeng. Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang attended Anglican Girls' Secondary School at Koforidua and Aburi Presby Girls' School. She then had her secondary education at the Wesley Girls High School in Cape Coast from 1964 to 1971. She completed her B.Ed.(Hons) in English and French at the University of Cape Coast in 1977 and obtained her Masters' and Doctorate degrees from York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1980 and 1986 respectively.

She taught and worked at the University of Cape Coast, starting in 1986. She has held various academic positions including Head of the Department of English, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Warden of Adehye Hall, Valco Trust Fund Postgraduate Hostel, and Dean of the School of Graduate Studies and Research. Since 1997, she has held the position of Academic Director of the School for International Training in the History and Cultures of the African Diaspora.

From 2008-2012 she was the University's Vice Chancellor. In March 2007, she was one of five scholars selected to deliver presentations during the 200th Anniversary of the Abolition of Slavery at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. In October 2009, she was elected Ghana's representative to the Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). Ahead of the 2012 general elections, Jane Opoku Agyemang moderated the debate with Kojo Oppong Nkrumah.

Between February 2013 and January 2017 she served as the Education Minister of Ghana. Opoku Agyemang has been honored with honorary degrees from the University of West Indies and Winston-Salem University. She has also received an award for Global leadership from the University of South Florida in Tampa.

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