A US$15 million grant supports Ghana's COVID-19 response for continued learning, recovery and resilience for basic education.

Allocation: US$15 million

Years: 2020-2021

Grant agent: World Bank

Key documents:

• Application and program document
• Ministry of Education COVID-19 response plan

The funding will support:

• Developing accessible and inclusive learning modules through TV and radio
• Distributing printed teaching and learning materials
• Distributing pre-loaded content devices to vulnerable groups who lack access to technology
• In-service teacher training to ensure teachers can effectively deliver lessons through innovative platforms
• A new learning management system to support learning continuity
• A new National Knowledge and Skills Bank to enable the curation of all education content linked to the new curriculum.
• When schools reopen, remedial and accelerated learning support for at-risk and poor performing students
• School grants to establish hand washing facilities or latrines in all schools.

The initiatives above are based on the Ministry of Education COVID-19 response plan.

In late March 2020, the UNICEF office in Ghana received a GPE grant of US$70,000 to support the Ministry of Education with planning its COVID-19 response.

The Education Strategic Plan 2018-2030 is the sixth plan in the series and builds on the previous ones and on other strategic goals such as Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education, and MDGs and is aligned to the more recent Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 and the National Development Plan 2016-2057.

The ultimate goal of the plan is to ensure that education plays a critical and positive role in the national development agenda and in helping to integrate international development goals into this agenda.

The main priorities of the ESP 2018-2030 include:

• Access and equity: Equal opportunity to obtain access to education, to learn and the provision of an environment that is conducive to learning and achievement of learning outcomes that demonstrate fair and just assessment,
• Quality: Achievement of high level standards and system responsiveness at all levels of education,
• Relevance: Learning, including skills development, which is responsive to individual, community and national development needs,
• Efficiency and effectiveness: Management of all resources that ensure value for money to achieve desired goals,
• Sustainability: Judicious utilization of human, financial and material resources to ensure balanced and continual development of the education system.

While the country has made considerable progress in the last decades, the education sector still faces several challenges which include attracting the remaining out-of-school children, poor learning outcomes in early grades, equity in access and learning, teacher time-on-task and deployment.