U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Deputy Mission Director Grace Lang joined the Minister of Education Hon. Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum in Tamale yesterday to launch a new five-year, $14.39 million activity to support low-cost private schools in northern Ghana. The activity is USAID’s first foray into Ghana’s private school sector and is designed to expand access to 213 select low-cost private schools in northern Ghana.

“A quality education should not depend on where you live.  We want every child to have access to a quality education. The $14 million activity we are launching today will support low-cost private schools that serve rural and disadvantaged communities. The activity will support those schools to improve education access, quality, and learning outcomes for students, and increase private sector investments in northern Ghana” USAID Deputy Mission Director Lang said.

This new USAID activity will increase teacher certification and retention, strengthen school leadership capacity and quality, and use a comprehensive investment strategy that will support school improvement. The activity will also offer affordable financing options for select low-cost private schools serving disadvantaged communities in northern Ghana. The activity is committed to serving populations in the most under-resourced locations in the northern section of the country. The activity will also strengthen the relationship and regulator capacity of the Ministry of Education and certain Ministry of Education agencies in its oversight of private schools.

By the end of five years, USAID anticipates that the project will strengthen business skills for more than 200 school leaders, equip 400 teacher mentors with evidence-based classroom best practices to teach another 2,000 teachers, and certify 1,200 untrained teachers. USAID implementing partner Opportunity International will also create a School Capacity Building Fund (SCBF) to assist the targeted schools to improve operations and become more credit-worthy through catalytic grants.