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A just, prosperous and vibrant democracy could only be built when the people are well educated and better informed, Mr Kofi Opoku-Manu, Ashanti Regional Minister, has said. He said it was for this reason that the Government was investing heavily to provide adequate infrastructure and other vital resources for effective teaching and learning. Mr Opoku-Manu was speaking at a day�s workshop on �Grants and Reporting Accountability Improve Literacy (GRAIL)� programme organized for regional and district education directors in Kumasi. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is funding the programme, which is designed to give technical assistance to 61 district education directorates in deprived parts of the country. Additionally, it would help the beneficiary districts in short-term planning and activity management. Mr Opoku-Manu said that under the country�s decentralization policy, decision-making and implementation had become the responsibility of local authorities and educational institutions. There is therefore the need for periodic building of the capacity to ensure accountability and transparency for quality education delivery, he said. Mr Samuel Bannerman-Mensah, Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), said a major challenge for the education system was to improve on literacy and numeracy skills of pupils. He said reports from Criterion Reference Tests (CRT) and National Education Assessment Tests (NEATS) in English and mathematics conducted for primary school pupils show that there is still much to be done. Mr Bannerman-Mensah said he was confident that GRAIL would increase the capacity of the education directorates to plan and carry out education improvement activities relevant to the local situation.