Questions have emerged over claims by the Ministry of Education that more than 40,000 teachers were trained under the Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcomes Project (GALOP), following correspondence suggesting the Ghana Education Service (GES) was unaware of the exercise.
Documents cited in the matter indicate that the World Bank sought clarification from the GES after the Ministry of Education reported that it had exceeded its target for training teachers in digital literacy and requested the release of US$1.2 million under the project.
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In a letter dated March 30, 2022, the Director-General of the GES, Prof. Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, stated that the Service was unaware that such training had taken place.
According to the letter, the GES was also unaware of the correspondence between the Ministry of Education and the World Bank concerning the reported training and was therefore unable to provide an informed response to the Bank’s enquiries.
Prof. Opoku-Amankwa subsequently requested guidance from the Minister for Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, to enable the GES respond appropriately to the World Bank.
Earlier, the Ministry of Education had informed the World Bank that it had successfully trained more than 40,000 teachers through three components: recorded online sessions, physical training and live virtual training.
In a letter signed by the Ministry’s Chief Director, Benjamin Gyasi, the Ministry stated that it had exceeded the training target under the project, describing the relevant performance benchmark as achieved.
However, the World Bank reportedly sought further clarification on the claims.
In correspondence dated January 7, 2022, the Bank requested additional information on the content of the training programme, noting that the course material appeared to differ from what had been outlined under GALOP.
The World Bank also requested copies of the training slides, examples of teacher self-assessments and any qualitative feedback from participants to assess whether the programme had improved teachers’ digital learning skills.
Additionally, the Bank asked whether the digital learning portal was linked, or would be linked, to student performance data to measure its impact on classroom learning and support targeted improvements in teaching.
According to the reports, the Ministry was asked to respond to the queries by January 14, 2022. However, it is alleged that no response was provided for several months, prompting the World Bank to seek clarification directly from the Director-General of the GES.
The Ministry of Education has not publicly responded to the allegations contained in the correspondence.
