$1.2m Scandal NAPO and Current Minister Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum Clarifies. The Money is in the Account
As immediate past Minister for Education (Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh), I believe it is important to clarify a number of issues pertaining to the story doing the media rounds regarding a World Bank project on teacher training thus;
1. Under my watch as Education Minister, the Ghana Education Service (GES) did not undertake the Teacher training component of GALOP to warrant our claim for the said $1.2m from World Bank.
2. The Digital Teacher Training under the KATechnology Teacher Laptop Program must not under any circumstances be confused with the GALOP Teacher Digital Literacy training program under National Teachers Council. KAT digital training isn’t a substitute for GALOP training. These are two different training programs.
3. As Education Minister I negotiated both programs and know that they are not the same.
I trust that this clarifies the matter.
According to the current Minister of Education.
“”The Gallop project: Funds are still in our accounts and will be used for the intended purpose – Minister for Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum.””
MINISTER FOR EDUCATION REFUTES ALLEGATION OF $1,2 MILLION SCANDAL
The Ministry’s attention has been drawn to a publication making the rounds online in which the publishers wrongly interpreted the facts regarding the training of teachers in Digital Literacy under the Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcomes Project (GALOP).
For purpose(s) of clarity, the facts of the matter are as follows:
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 $15m 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 40,000 teachers in Digital Literacy to trigger disbursement of $1.2 million.
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 (see https://kanton.katechnologiesgh.com) and National Teaching Council (NTC) platforms (see http://elearning.ntc.gov.gh) for the provision of digital literacy training.
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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
vi. Independent Verification of the Ministry’s Report on achievement was done by the Education Sector Development Partners as the requirement of the project.
The Development Partners’ Group was taken through a presentation on the teacher training platform, 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 engagements 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 of five digital literacy courses.
x. Consequently, the World Bank transferred $1.2m 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 KA Technologies and NTC developed platforms. KA Technologies platforms has 148,510 signed up uses. Similarly, 43,988 teachers had been trained on the NTC platform as of May 26, 2022.
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 NTC teacher training platform and the KA Technologies Platform.
KWASI KWARTENG
SPOKESPERSON-MINISTRY OF EDUCATION.
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