By Christabel Oboshie ANNAN, Accra
The World Bank Managing Director for Operations, Anna M. Bjerde, says the Bank is satisfied with the utilisation of funds for the Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcomes Project (GALOP).
Stating her impressions about the programme during a working tour in Ghana, she noted that “the education programme has so far has been impressive because it has helped students develop from early childhood to higher education.”
She said this during her visit to the New Gbawe Municipal Assembly Basic 1 Primary and Junior Secondary School in Accra.
Anna Bjerde noted that the project, in partnership with the Ministry of Education, is currently supporting about 10,000 schools.
She added that she had realised that students were well engaged in learning, reading and numeracy skills.
“I saw strong engagement, very good reading and compression skills among the students during my visit to the Primary Three and Four class and it was very impressive,” she stressed.
The Deputy Minister for Education, John Ntim Fordjour, expressed the Government’s gratitude to the World Bank for the support given to Ghana in transforming over 10,000 schools in the system.
He stated that by the intervention, Ghana has been able to address learning poverty, which ia shown in the outcome of the National Standardised Test, which proves that there has been significant improvement in beneficiary schools.
He noted that they look forward to scaling the project to impact both public and private schools in the country.
School Improvement Support Officer for Weija Gbawe Circuit, Naa K. Boateng, said that the GALOP has taught her how to differentiate learnings based on children’s learning ability.
She added that through the project, 99.5% of learners are able to read and understand.
Ghana Tech Lab and Ghana Innovation Hub
The Director for Operations and the World Bank Vice President for Western and Central Africa, Ousmane Diagana, later moved to two pioneer innovation ecosystems and digital tech hubs supported under the eTransform Ghana Project.
The Director for Operations said that she has seen people being trained, in the process of introducing new products and networking.
She noted that the World Bank is committed to the jobs agenda which is creating interesting jobs for the youth and the country.
“So we’re here to stay and continue to invest in these types of agenda” she stressed.
A Business Development Associate at SayeTech Company Limited said that as beneficiaries, they have had access to grants to help them manufacture more machines to serve more farmers save their grains.
