The minority caucus in parliament has said it is worried about the silence of minister of education Yaw Osei Adutwum following an exposé that implicated him in an alleged phantom training scheme of teachers that cost $1.2 million from the World Bank.

According to correspondences from his office and the Ghana Education Service (GES), the Director-General of the GES, Prof Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, appears to be unaware of the training of over 40,000 teachers on the digital literacy platform under the Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcomes Project (GALOP).

The World Bank, as part of its investigations to establish the training of the teachers as claimed by the Education Ministry, officially wrote to the Director-General of GES to confirm the said training.

But a letter signed by Prof Opoku-Amankwa observed that he is “unaware that any such training has taken place.”

Commenting on the issue via a press statement signed by the ranking member of the education committee of parliament, Peter Nortsu-Kotoe, the minority caucus said: “As the Minority in Parliament, we find this loud silence and blatant attempt by the Minister to shy away from probity as worrying and scandalous”.

Read the minority caucus’ full statement below:

MINORITY STATEMENT ON THE ALLEGED INVOLVEMENT OF THE EDUCATION MINISTER IN A $1.2 MILLION PHANTOM TRAINING SCANDAL

In what has become the usual characteristic of the Akufo-Addo led NPP government, we have observed with worry, the deafening silence of both government and the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum regarding a damning allegation of his involvement in a $1.2 million phantom training scandal which has since been widely circulated in the media.

According to reports available to us, coupled with further correspondences between the World Bank and the Ghana Education Service, the Ministry of Education is claiming to have trained some 40,000 teachers on the digital literacy platform under the Ghana Accountability for Learning Outcomes Project (GALOP) costing a total of $1.2 million.

The facts available indicate that in November 2020 the MoE wrote to the World Bank requesting the release of $1.2 million amid claims it had successfully trained over 40,000 teachers under GALOP.

According to the reports, the Education Ministry noted in its request that the teachers were trained in modules which include recorded online training, physical training and online/virtual live training.

This letter which was signed by the Chief Director at the Education Ministry, Benjamin Gyasi, and submitted to the World Bank also concluded that the Ministry had exceeded the target of 40,000 teachers to be trained, insisting PBC7.2B has been achieved, a claim the World Bank doubted.

But for the records, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in June 2020 launched the Ghana Accountability and Learning Outcomes Project (GALOP), with the objective to help drive standards and quality in some ten thousand low-performing basic schools across the country.

Under the initiative, the Government is expected to invest some two hundred and nineteen million dollars ($219 million) on a comprehensive set of interventions that address constraints from teaching to learning in our schools.

It is, however, imperative to note that the World Bank in its attempt to determine the veracity of the claims made by the Ministry of Education wrote officially to the Ghana Education Service.

But in its response, the Ghana Education Service (GES) appears unaware of any of such training.

It is further emerging, that the Ministry of Education, under Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, on the other hand, has failed to respond to a series of queries the World Bank has issued, the latest of which was said to have been sent to the Ministry in January this year.

As the Minority in Parliament, we find this loud silence and blatant attempt by the Minister to shy away from probity as worrying and scandalous.

We are by this statement, demanding from the government and the Minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum to respond to the queries in order to clear the minds of Ghanaians on the speculations in relation to this very scandal.

While at it, we are resolute and very confident that the World Bank would pursue this matter to its logical conclusion.

Signed

Hon. Peter Nortsu-Kotoe

Ranking Member on Parliament's Education Committee

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