Ethiopia and the World Bank Sign Education Loan Agreement
H.E. Ato Mekonnen Manyzewal, State Minster of Finance and Economic Development, and Mrs. Jeeva Perumalpillai-Essex, Acting Country Director for the World Bank in Ethiopia and Sudan .
ADDIS ABABA, December 29, 2008 -- A Loan Agreement for the General Education Quality Improvement Program (GEQIP) was signed today by the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the World Bank. The Agreement amounting to USD $50 million was signed at a ceremony held at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED).
As stipulated in the agreement, the GEQIP aims to support Ethiopia’s effort to improve the quality of general education through among other things, improvements in (a) teaching and learning conditions in primary and secondary institutions and (b) management planning and budget capacity of the Ministry of Education and Regional Education Bureaus. Specific activities include a Teacher Development Program; curriculum, textbooks and assessment; education management information systems; and a school improvement program.
The project was approved by the Word Banks’ Board of Directors on December 18, 2008. The credit is the first part of a two-phase Adaptable Program Loan, and will leverage an estimated collective investment of US$417million in additional resources from the Government and other development partners. Around 16 million students in primary and secondary schools as well as 225,000 teachers are expected to benefit from the GEQIP.
H.E. Ato Mekonnen Manyzewal, State Minster of Finance and Economic Development, and Mrs. Jeeva Perumalpillai-Essex, Acting Country Director for the World Bank in Ethiopia and Sudan, signed the loan agreement on behalf of the Ethiopian Government and the World Bank respectively.
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