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Mr Kwame Owusu-Boateng - CEO, Opportunity International.

Opportunity International disburses GH¢21m to support education

Opportunity International Savings and Loans Limited (OISL) has maintained an impressive loans book for the educational sector in Ghana, a good example of how support for the private sector can help improve education infrastructure and delivery in the country.

The company’s loans and advances to the education sector totalled GH¢20.69 million in the past eight years.

The Chief Executive Officer of OISL, Mr Kwame Owusu-Boateng, told the Daily Graphic in Accra that "given the level of literacy in the country, Opportunity International finds it necessary to fund the education sector to reduce poverty and improve access to employment”.

The company believes that providing education is of paramount importance because the lack of it is directly linked to poverty.

Literacy rate in Ghana is 71.5 per cent which implies that 28.5 per cent of the population aged 15 and over cannot read and write.

Mr Owusu-Boateng said: "Opportunity International is helping to alleviate the barriers to education through funding and capacity building to the schools, students and teachers."

The Global Head of Education Finance of Opportunity International, Mr Nathan Byrd, said as the public sector in sub-Saharan Africa and other regions continued to struggle with funding for expanding and improving education, the private sector offered a clear, effective sustainable solution: "The Opportunity International's model."

“This model is enabling locally owned private schools to help low-wage earners educate their families and transform their lives. It is also stimulating the economy in a direct and effective way and acting as a critical catalyst to improving literacy rates, while breaking the cycle of poverty," he stated.

Beneficiaries

Out of the GH¢20.69 million disbursement, GH¢16.06 million went directly to improve private schools, GH¢2.41 million to pay primary and secondary school fees, with GH¢2.22 million to pay tertiary school fees.

A total of 441 schools, 2,302 pupils from the primary and secondary schools and 945 students from tertiary institutions have benefitted from Opportunity International's education loans.

Current portfolio

The company currently has an outstanding loan portfolio of GH¢6.59 million with 1,273 clients. This is made up of GH¢5.57 million loans with 234 private school proprietors, GH¢341,688 with 478 pupils and students of primary and secondary schools and GH¢676,710 with 561 tertiary students.

OISL has a school improvement loan that seeks to provide credit for infrastructure development, provision of school amenities such as computers and textbooks and for the intellectual development of teachers.

The package

The school fees loan also seeks to provide loans for primary and secondary school fee payment and the purchase of books whereas the GOAL (Greater Opportunity Access for Learning) student's loan provides money for tertiary school fees payment, purchase of textbooks and support to cater for other living expenses on campus for tertiary students.

The company also provided special training to school proprietors and teachers to upgrade their skills in various ways. Since its inception, 1,145 school staff have received training in 15 different training programmes.

It is estimated that a total of 246,444 children have been impacted by Opportunity International's education lending programme.

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