Accra, Aug. 10, GNA - The British and the Netherlands Governments on Thursday signed two separate grant agreements with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP) for the disbursement of funds for the implementation of the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) programme.

The UK is giving 105 million pounds over a period of 10 years while the Netherlands would make available 22 million Euros over a four-year period under the FCUBE programme. The British Department for International Development (DFID) would manage the fund. Both agreements also formed part of donor support for the Multi Donor Budgetary Support programme.

Mr Gordon Wetherell, British High Commissioner and Mr Arie van der Wiel, Dutch Ambassador, signed for their countries while Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, signed for Ghana.

Mr Wetherell said the disbursement of the amount by his country was in line with Ghana's 10-year strategic plan to get all children to complete the full six years primary education by 2015 and also to help the country to meet her commitment to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of universal primary enrolment and gender parity in schools.

The UK would release 10 million pounds each year for the sector budget support but this would depend on the progress towards the FCUBE and the Government's efforts to maintain primary education as a priority by increasing its share of the education budget.

In this regard, Mr Wetherell said: "We welcome the assurance that the Government of Ghana still regards genuinely free, compulsory and universal basic education as the highest priority in the education sector and its commitment to restore the proportion of recurrent public spending on education devoted to primary education to at least 40 per cent of the total in the next few years.

"We look forward to seeing this commitment reflected in the ....forthcoming budget."

The High Commissioner said his country recognized that full achievement of the universal primary education was a major challenge since it was estimated that there were still 680,000 children between six years and 11 years of age still not enrolled in primary school. The figure translates into 20 per cent of the total number of children of that age.

Mr Wetherell said this was the more reason to applaud the Government's intention to go well beyond this target, to reform the education system and restore its quality, and to use education and training as core elements of the human resource development pillar of the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy II (GPRS II).

He pledged the UK's commitment to go all out in support of the FCUBE programme, which, he said, was argued well at the recent meeting of African Finance Ministers in Abuja, Nigeria. Britain is already supporting Ghana's education through the UNESCO's Education for All (EFA) Fast Track Initiative (FTI) in partnership with other donors.

Britain recently pledged 100 million pounds to the global fund for the FTI under which Ghana is due to receive 11 million dollars this year.

Mr van der Wiel said seven million euros would be disbursed for the first year and five million euros each from 2007 to 2009. He said the modality for implementation of the FCUBE programme for the disbursement of the grant would be under 93a silent partnership" with the UK through the DFID.

The Ambassador said in further assistance towards education, the Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation had agreed with the Dutch Parliament to spend an annual figure of 15 per cent of aid budget on basic education for developing countries as part of their contribution to the EFA initiative.

The Dutch Government is already assisting in the School Feeding Programme in Ghana for which the Ambassador said "we are killing even three birds with one stone, namely to improve primary school attendance and results, to contribute to health status of children and thirdly to boost local food production."

Mr van der Wiel explained that the existing School Feeding Programmes depended on food donations but the current programme was based on locally produced food.

Mr Baah-Wiredu said the amount from the UK translated into 1.7 trillion cedis to be disbursed in an annual estimated sum of 168 billion cedis over the 10-year period.

He said the UK had been a keen supporter of Ghana's education sector contributing a total of 50 million pounds from 1998 to 2005. The support had yielded significant achievements by strengthening the financial systems at the district and school level and ensured the establishment of school management committees, the Minister said. Mr Baah-Wiredu said the Government's 10-year education strategic plan was expected to translate into an increased primary school and junior secondary school (JSS) enrolment; retention and completion; gender parity in primary and JSS enrolments; improved quality of teaching and learning in primary and JSS education and improved management of schools and district education offices. He said Government was doing everything possible to make real progress in increasing school enrolment towards achieving the MDGs of universal primary enrolment and gender parity. 10 Aug. 06