The Ministry of Education in a press statement has denied claims that it misapplied funds of the Free Senior High School (FSHS).

The ministry denial follows a report in the recent Auditor General’s report and news making rounds in the media that some GHC19, 217,802.00 had been misapplied at the FSHS Secretariat.

The ministry in the statement dated July 22, 2021 and signed by one Felix Baidoo under the portfolio of a press secretary, explained that the said funds were rather borrowed from the Secretariat to support other departments and agencies of the sector.

According to the statement, the funds were urgently needed to assist activities of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) and the Ghana Education Service (GES).

Ideally, these agencies were supposed to have been funded by Ghana Accountability and Learning Outcomes Projects (GALOP), a project being funded by the World Bank.

The Ministry was compelled to fall on the Free SHS funds because GALOP in 2019/2020 had not received funds to enable the implementation of basic schools reform programmes by these agencies.

The statement added that NaCCA and GES had long since repaid the borrowed funds back to the FSHS Secretariat’s coffers.

“Copies of documentation covering the internal transaction are available for review upon request anytime as the ministry, Free SHS Secretariat, NaCCA and GES are all keeping copies,” the statement added.  

It further added that what has been put in the public domain is far from the reality was.