Ghana has secured a $300 million financing package from the World Bank to support the expansion of infrastructure in senior high schools across the country, Minister for Education Haruna Iddrisu has announced.
The funding is expected to ease pressure on existing facilities following the significant increase in enrolment under the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy.
Speaking on TV3’s New Day programme, the Education Minister said government is repositioning its investment strategy in the education sector, with a stronger focus on basic education to strengthen the country’s educational foundation.
“Everywhere in the world, if you want to get your education right, you must invest more in basic education,” he stated, adding that government policy will realign financial resources to favour the basic education sector.
Haruna Iddrisu revealed that the World Bank financing will support infrastructure development across various categories of senior high schools.
“Thankfully, President Mahama and the Ministry of Finance, the World Bank is supporting the Ministry of Education with 300 million US dollars,” he said.
He explained that the funding will be used to upgrade schools and expand facilities to accommodate the growing number of students under the Free SHS programme.
According to the Minister, the project will convert some Category C schools into Category B, upgrade Category B schools to Category A, and also expand infrastructure in existing Category A schools.
“Yes, you(NPP) launch Free Senior High School, but the previous administration failed to provide expanded infrastructure by way of classrooms, lecture theatres and ICT to accommodate the exponential increase in numbers,” he noted.
Haruna Iddrisu further disclosed that the Ministry has already begun engagement with the World Bank on procurement processes for the project.
“We’ve started engagement with the World Bank with procurement. On or about May or June we should award contracts and get contractors to begin work so that within a year we should be able to expand access to Free Senior High School,” he explained.
The Minister also assured that government is taking steps to sustain the welfare of students under the Free SHS programme, particularly in relation to food supply.
He said President Mahama has directed that the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) allocate GH¢4.2 billion to support the programme.
“No student in any Free Senior High School is struggling to get food to eat because the President directed that GETFund should absorb 4.2 billion to support Free SHS,” he said.
Haruna Iddrisu added that government plans to establish a Free SHS secretariat with regional coordinators to strengthen supervision and address operational challenges such as food supply and storage in schools.
The infrastructure expansion project is expected to significantly improve learning conditions and help accommodate the growing number of students benefiting from the Free SHS policy.
