Minority Chase Education Minister Over US$1.2million Fake Teacher Training Scandal

The Minority in Parliament is demanding the head of Education Minister, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum for reportedly hoodwinked the World Bank into paying US$1.2million for a phantom educational program for teachers.

This is despite the fact that Dr. Adutwum is claiming he had indeed trained 40,000 teachers and thus deserves the World Bank release of the controversial US$1.2 million.

In a statement, therefore, the Minority doubted the minister’s claim and is demanding further and better particulars on the World Bank facility.

“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,” the Minority said.

“It also encouraged the World Bank to probe the apparent fraud attempt by the Minister. “While at it, we are resolute and very confident that the World Bank would pursue this matter to its logical conclusion.”

The suspected fraud that Dr. Adutwum is apparently trying to wish away has to do with him writing to the World Bank and claiming that his Ministry had organized a training program for over 40,000 Ghanaian teachers which the World Bank should pay for.

However, in due diligence checks, the World Bank wrote to the Ghana Education Service (GES) and found out that the GES is not even aware that any such program has taken place.

GES has for months been asking the Minister to give feedback on the training program that only Dr. Osei Adutwum knows about.

The minority concurred that in June 2020, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, 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 US$219 million in a comprehensive set of interventions that address constraints from teaching to learning in our schools.

However, the training for the initial phase of the GALOP appears to be only known to the minister and nobody else at the GES.