The World Bank says it verified that the Ministry of Education trained teachers before releasing funds under the Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcomes Project (GALOP).
This confirmation is contained in a response the global financial institution sent to JoyNews.
The Education Committee of Parliament is set to probe allegations that the Education Minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, supervised GALOP at an estimated cost of $1.2 million for some 40,000 teachers. This follows a JoyNews investigation that revealed that the Ghana Education Service (GES) was unaware of the training.
The World Bank, as part of its investigations to establish the training of the teachers as claimed by the Education Ministry, officially wrote to the Director-General of GES to confirm the said training.
But a letter signed by Director-General Prof Opoku-Amankwa observed that he is “unaware that any such training has taken place.”
The letter also added that “GES is unaware of reports and correspondence between the Education Ministry and the World Bank, and is unable to make an informed response to the Bank’s request.”
The said letter dated March 30, 2022 also asked the Minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, “to advice and provide direction to enable the GES to respond appropriately to the enquiries from the World Bank.”
Speaking on the development, Deputy Ranking Member on Parliament’s Education Committee, Dr. Clement Apaak said the country risks being blacklisted by the World Bank should the Minister fail to provide clarity on the matter.
JoyNews’ Emefa Apawu subsequently reached out to the World Bank seeking to find out if the Ministry of Education has furnished it with the required information under the program.
The World Bank provided the following response;
“The World Bank would like to confirm that under the Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcomes Project (GALOP), financing is disbursed against the achievement of pre-agreed and independently verified results.
As per the protocol, the Ministry of Education provided the details of the number of teachers trained in using distance learning methods, which were verified by the Development Partners’ Group and accepted by the World Bank.
The financing was released upon this confirmation. “The World Bank remains committed to supporting Ghana in its efforts to improve education for all.”