The World Bank has received an additional $117 million grant from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) to expand GALOP to all public primary and Kindergartens nationwide to prepare pupils and build the critical skills needed to develop basic schools in the country.

The World Bank Country Director, Dr. Robert Taliercio, announced this and attributed the release of the additional grant to the project's success.

The project initially targeted 10,000 low-performing primary and kindergarten schools in Ghana.

Dr. Taliercio made the pledge during a site visit to a Ghana Learning and Accountability Outcomes Project (GALOP) school with the Minister for Education, Haruna Iddrisu, to assess the progress of the project's implementation.

The visit took the World Bank boss and the Education Minister to St Thomas Presbyterian Primary School (Osu) and Kindergarten.

The GALOP, a $335.83-million project, aims to improve the quality of education in low-performing basic schools and to strengthen education sector equity and accountability in Ghana.

He stated that the new additions had brought the total disbursement to $335.83 million.

Dr. Taliercio also stated that the World Bank initially released $218.7 million for the project, which is expected to close in 2026.

He said education was critical to Ghana’s socio-economic development, adding that GALOP was helping prepare the pupils and building the critical skills needed for the country's development.

The Country Director pledged the Bank’s commitment to helping improve education in the country.

According to him, education was the key to addressing poverty and building the capacity of the youth for the world of work and human resource needs of the country.

Dr. Taliercio encouraged the pupils to study hard to excel in their education.

The Education Minister, Haruna Iddrisu, lauded the World Bank for its commitment to continuing to support education in the country.

He mentioned that foundational literacy and numeracy were key to children's development, saying that this year, as part of the GALOP, there would be a national standardized test for pupils from class one to J.H.S 2.