The Ministry of Education has debunked allegations that it has fraudulently secured money from the World Bank to fund its controversial Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcomes Project (GALOP).
According to the Ministry’s Public Relations Officer, Kwasi Kwarteng, the claims made by TANIT Limited that the Minister and his officers had forged documents to draw money from the bank are false.
It would be recalled that in the IT firm’s reaction to the Ministry’s decision to terminate its contract agreement with the company, the Management alleged that an officer of the Ministry of Education, Mr. Bernard Ayensu had informed them of the Minister’s ‘dubious’ means to secure the US$1.2 million.
“On the night of 30th, November 2021, the Minister of Education directed him [Mr. Bernard Ayensu] to make a ‘mid-night’ run to the house of the Chief Director of the Ministry of Education to sign a ‘made-up’ report for onward submission to Education Sector Working Group,” part of the statement by TANIT Limited read.
But Mr Kwasi Kwarteng refuting the claim explained that what they presented to the World Bank to convince them to invest their US$1.2 million in the GALOP was the report from the training conducted for teachers under KA Technologies Ghana Limited.
KA Technologies Ghana Limited, aside the distribution of free laptops to schools, was by the pact signed with government expected to train teachers in basic computing skills– Microsoft.
However, per the conditions provided by the World Bank, the Ministry could not meet the requirement without the basics of technological training, which is familiarization with Microsoft.
They thus trained over 41,000 teachers which includes all teachers under the tutorship of KA Technologies Ghana Limited.
“So the Microsoft training which we have reported to them [World Bank] on, we have also pledged a commitment that we are going to continue with those variables [required by the World Bank] to also finish the training,” the Ministry said.
“It was against that backdrop that the world bank released the money.”
He also disclaimed that the US$1.2 million received from the Bank was not for the purpose of training the teachers, adding that “before the approval [by the World Bank], you need to demonstrate certain capabilities” and the ministry did not need the money to train the teachers.
Source: angelonline.com.gh