The government has secured a US$300 million World Bank facility to upgrade 50 Senior High Schools (SHSs) across the country as part of efforts to phase out the double-track system, President John Dramani Mahama has announced.
Under the initiative, known as the Transformative Secondary Education for Access, Results and Relevance for Jobs (STARR-J) project, 30 category C schools will be upgraded to category B, while 20 category B schools will be elevated to category A.
Speaking at the commissioning of the Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Scan facility at the Swedish Ghana Medical Centre in Accra yesterday, President Mahama said the project was designed to promote equity, improve quality, and expand opportunities for all Ghanaian students.
He explained that the STARR-J project would support government’s target of ending the double-track system in senior high schools by 2027.
“So through STARR-J, we are laying the foundation for a more inclusive, resilient, and future-ready secondary education system in Ghana. The STARR-J project is going to assist the Ghana government to achieve its target of bringing an end to the double-track system in our secondary school system by next year. By 2027, there should be no secondary school implementing a double-track system in Ghana,” he said.
According to the President, the removal of the double-track system would also allow teachers more time to rest and adequately prepare teaching and learning materials.
He further noted that new community day senior high schools would be constructed in urban and peri-urban areas to make access easier for students who can commute from home.
“What this means is that if we get some of the children to go to school within their communities, it will ease the pressure on boarding schools that are elsewhere. So this will help ease the growing pressure on boarding facilities and expand access to quality secondary education closer to urban families,” he explained.
President Mahama added that beyond expanding access, the project places strong emphasis on improving quality across all SHSs, including technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions, to ensure alignment with the skills needed in a modern, competitive economy.
As part of the initiative, he said all SHS teachers would benefit from continuous professional development programmes aimed at strengthening their skills and improving classroom delivery.
He said the training would equip teachers with 21st-century competencies, including digital literacy, critical thinking, innovative teaching methods, artificial intelligence integration, and learner-centred approaches.
“Our objective is clear, to ensure that every teacher is not only well-qualified, but also continuously empowered to deliver relevant, high-quality education that prepares our young people not merely for examinations, but for life, work, innovation, and national development,” he stated.
President Mahama further stressed that it was the collective responsibility of the nation not only to honour teachers but also to deliberately invest in systems that support their work.
He reaffirmed government’s commitment to improving teaching and learning conditions in schools, noting that recent reforms to career progression in the teaching service form part of that broader agenda.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
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