Parliament has approved a US$300 million credit facility from the International Development Association (IDA) to support the expansion and transformation of Ghana’s secondary education sector.
The funding will finance the Secondary Education Transformation for Access, Relevance and Results for Jobs (STARR-J) Project, which is designed to improve access to senior high schools, enhance teaching and learning, strengthen technical and vocational education, and help phase out the double-track system.
A major portion of the facility — US$257.7 million, representing about 86 per cent — will be dedicated to infrastructure development to address the country’s persistent secondary school infrastructure deficit.
Under the project, 10 new secondary schools will be constructed in underserved districts, while 150 existing schools will be rehabilitated. Additionally, 30 Category C schools will be upgraded to Category B status, with 20 Category B schools upgraded to Category A.
The project will also support the completion of abandoned E-Block school projects, expansion of existing facilities, provision of furniture and essential learning materials, and improvements to the Computerised School Selection and Placement System to support a transition to a single-track academic calendar.
The new schools are expected to be distributed across selected regions, including Central, Western North, Greater Accra, Volta, Oti, Northern, Upper East, Upper West, Savannah and Western regions.
Beyond infrastructure, the remaining US$33.8 million from the IDA facility, alongside US$31 million in government counterpart funding, will focus on improving the quality and relevance of secondary education.
The investment will support teacher training, curriculum reforms, digital skills development, entrepreneurship education, industry partnerships and work-based learning programmes aimed at equipping students with skills that match labour market demands.
“The component will improve teaching and learning and ensure that secondary education equips students with knowledge and competencies relevant to the labour market,” Parliament’s Joint Committee stated in its report.
The committee noted that the project would also strengthen education management systems, improve monitoring and evaluation, enhance communication, promote gender-based violence prevention, and establish emergency response mechanisms within the education sector.
According to the report, the financing addresses key challenges affecting the implementation of the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy, including overcrowding, inadequate classrooms, limited laboratories and workshops, insufficient ICT facilities, shortages of teaching materials and weak links between secondary education and employment opportunities.
Recommending approval of the agreement, the committee said the facility would provide Ghana with critical concessional funding to transform secondary education.
“The Committee is satisfied that the Financing Agreement provides Ghana with concessional resources to improve secondary education infrastructure, enhance the quality and relevance of teaching and learning, strengthen technical and vocational education, improve education sector governance and end the double-track system,” the report stated.
Parliament’s approval clears the way for the government to access the funds and begin implementing the project aimed at creating a more accessible, better-equipped and labour-market-focused secondary education system.
