The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has launched the Ghana Education Outcome Project (GEOP) at a special ceremony in Accra.
The project is aimed at returning 70,000 out-of-school children back into the classroom, as well as improving learning outcomes in over 600 GALOP schools in 29 districts in the country.
On the theme, ”Getting all children educated through support to schools and communities,” the launch attracted hundreds of education-related stakeholders like the Word Bank, High Commissioners, Non-Governmental Agencies, Agencies under the Education Ministry Metropolitan/Municipal and District Chief Executives among other dignitaries.
In an address read for the President, Mr Yaw Osafo Maafo, a Senior Presidential Advisor, lauded the World Bank for its support towards the development of the country in various facets.
He explained that the Finance Ministry signed the financing agreement with the World Bank on 21st June 2020 attesting to the government’s commitment towards getting the best education for the country.
The President said, “These 70,000, children will be taken through a robust accelerated learning programme (ALP) known as the Complementary Basic Education (CBE), a nine-month programme where children would be trained to acquire basic literacy and numeracy skills through this period”
He explained that the country has in the past years made significant gains in the education sector and was hopeful this GEOP would go a long way to boost education development in the country.
The Education Practice Manager of the World Bank in charge of West and Central Africa, Dr Scherezad Latif, praised the government and the Education Ministry as well as its Agencies for the demonstration of ownership of GEOP.
She pledged to continue working hard to ensure that the project would meet its target goals for the development of the nation’s education.
The Education Minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, in his welcome address was upbeat about the project would be executed by all stakeholders to ensure that all Ghanaian children would be able to receive education for the good of the country and the rest of the world.
He praised the GEOP Coordinator, Nana Fatima High for her effort towards the commencement of the project which would go a long way to enhance educational development in the country.
Dr Adutwum, who is the Member of Parliament for Bosomtwe assured the nation that everything possible will be done to ensure the success of the project
Background
The government, in its quest to make education equitable by bringing children back into the classroom, has partnered with the Foreign Commonwealth Development Organisation (FCDO).
This partnership seeks to improve the quality of education in Ghana in low-performing basic schools and strengthen education sector equity and accountability through Ghana Education Outcomes Project.
The project is being funded with US$ 25.5 million from the Foreign Commonwealth Development Organisation (FCDO) grant through the Global Partnership for Results-Based Approaches Trust Fund (GPRBA-TF) and a counterpart funding of US$ 4.5 million by the government of Ghana.
