The Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, has refuted allegations of pocketing a $1.2 million World Bank fund meant for the training of teachers.
The funding was under the Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcomes Project (GALOP) in digital literacy courses.
He says contrary to reports that the World Bank was investigating the ministry before releasing the $1.2 million, the funds had already been released to the ministry after it had successfully trained 40,042 on five digital literacy courses, which were verified by the World Bank through education sector development partners.
The Minister speaking on Accra baased radio station Adom Fm monitored by Voicefmonline.com said he does not see why some Ghanaians will be turning themselves as lawyers to questions him on behalf of World Bank because he thinks World Bank has already done their investigations and that was the reason they released the money to the Education Ministry.
He further explained that he feels some Ghanaians want to sabotage him, however, he thinks they are rather tarnishing the image of Ghana which may affect Ghanaians very soon because they are also indicting the world bank that they are sloppy.
Dr. Adutwum says Ghanaians could’ve blamed him when he refused to go for the money when World Bank called on the Ministry for it.
He says he could’ve taken the blame if Ghanaians say they do not know what he used the money for.
He says World Bank has agreed to the number of the trained teachers they requested for and that is the reason the released the money out but some Ghanaians are rather finding ways to sabotage him and that makes him feel disappointed.
The Minister says the money has not been squandered as claimed by some media reports, clarifying that the said amount in contention was not even meant for the training of teachers as suggested.
He said “The good news is that the money is sitting in the [Ministry’s] account as we speak”.
Claims against the Minister referenced a supposed training of over 40,000 teachers on the digital literacy platform under the Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcomes Project (GALOP).
BACKGROUND
i. Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcomes Project (GALOP) uses Results Based Financing (RBF) instrument where project funds are disbursed contingent on the achievement of pre-agreed results and independent verification of results.
ii. In 2020, the Ministry secured additional SISm as COVID-19 Global Partnerships for Education Accelerated Funding to better respond to disruptions to education due to COVID-19.
BACKGROUND
i. Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcomes Project (GALOP) uses Results Based Financing (RBF) instrument where project funds are disbursed contingent on the achievement of pre-agreed results and independent verification of results.
ii. In 2020, the Ministry secured additional SISm as COVID-19 Global Partnerships for Education Accelerated Funding to better respond to disruptions to education due to COVID-19.
iii. Under this component, one Performance Based Condition (PBC) against which disbursement is tied is Teachers Trained in Digital Literacy. The MoE was expected to train 40,080 teachers . Digital Literacy to trigger disbursement of S1.2 million.
ACTION TAKEN
iv. In collaboration with Ghana Education Service (GES), KA Technologies had been engaged to supply laptops to, and train teachers in digital literacy. To ensure efficiency in the utilization of sector resources, the Ministry leveraged the teacher training platform developed by KA Technologies and National Teaching Council (NTC) platform ( for the provision of digital literacy training.
v. Based on evidence from the Kanton platform, a total of 41,860 Teachers had registered as participating in digital literacy training on the KA Technologies platform as of November 30, 2021. Out of this total, 40,042 had been through at least a course on digital literacy. Similarly, teachers had accessed the NTC platform and were participating in the training.
INDEPENDENT VERIFICATION
vi. Independent Verification of the Ministry’s Report on achievement was done by the Education Sector Development Partners as the requirement of the project.
vii. The Development Partners’ Group was taken through a presentation on the teacher training platforms, courses mounted, teachers registered and the courses taken. Furthermore, the Partners’ were given access for their independent engagement with the platform.
viii. Issues raised by the Development Partners such as the adequacy of the content on the teachers training platforms were addressed in a series of engagement with the Development Partners Group.
ix. Following these engagements, the Education Sector Development Partners’ in a letter dated March 25, 2022 officially communicated their verification and confirmation of achievement of PBC 7.2B. Among others, the Group noted that documentation provided by the MoE to the Chair of the Development Partners Group shows that, as of November 30,2021, a total of 41,860 Teachers from 685 schools across the country have registered on the platform and 40,042 have completed at least five digital literacy courses.
x. Consequently, the World Bank transferred ..2m to the Ministry after their internal clearance of the PBC The funds will be programmed for GALOP implementation activities in the next budget cycle as per project implementation arrangements.
xi. Beyond the submission of the report and verification, many more teachers have been trained on both the I, Technologies and NTC developed platforms. K.A Technologies platforms has 148,510 signed up uses. Similarly, 43,988 teachers had been trained on the NTC platform as of May 26, 2022.
MEDIA DISCUSSION
xii. The World Bank has not written to Ghana Education Service (GES) or any other Agency of the Ministry to confirm the achievement of results. Evidence of teachers trained is available on the NIG teacher training platform and the KA Technologies Platform.
SOURCE: Mubarak Yakubu/Voicefmonline.com
