We’re finalizing procurement of textbooks for new curriculum - Minister

Education Minister Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum says the procurement process for the purchase and the supply of textbooks based on the new Standard Based Curriculum is ongoing and at the final quality assurance stage.

He was responding to a question asked by the Builsa South MP Dr. Clement Apaak.

Dr. Clement Apaak asked him when the textbooks based on the new Standard Based Curriculum will be supplied to Basic Schools in the country.

In his response, he said the procurement process is ongoing and at the final quality assurance stage.

This, he said, will lead to the award of contract, once the procurement process is over for suppliers to deliver the textbooks to the Regional and District Education Offices for onward distribution to schools.

He disclosed that the Scholarship Secretariat and GETFund between 2012 and 2020 granted 91,723 scholarships to Ghanaian individuals at various academic levels with the Scholarship Secretariat alone awarding a total of 88,140 scholarships made up of 6,517 foreign and 81,623 local.

He also described Ghanaian teachers as one if the most resourceful in the world after he was asked if the ministry had done any assessment on quality after the new curriculum was introduced without the teachers having the textbooks.

The Bosomtwe Constituency Member of Parliament said the good performance of students in this year’s West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) is indicative that Ghanaian teachers are among the best trained and dedicated in the world.

Replying the MP for Adaklu Governs Agbodza in respect of the amount withdrawn out of USD 1.5 Billion approved by Parliament in 2018 for the GETFund to date, the Minister clarified that GHS 2,752,272.00 has been raised by the Fund representing USD 500 Million using the exchange rate at the time of registering the bond.

He said the amount was raised through a mix of syndicated loans and the bond programme and provided details with regards to who was paid with proceeds of the facility and categories of liabilities settlement.

The GETFund, he added, also awarded a total of 6,073 scholarships from 2012 to 2020 with 2,490 Ghanaians benefitting between 2012 and 2016 from the Fund while 3,583 scholarships comprising 679 foreign and 2,904 local scholarships were awarded between 2017 and 2020.