Parliament has approved a US$300 million International Development Association (IDA) credit facility to finance the Secondary Education Transformation for Access, Relevance and Results for Jobs (STARR-J) Project.
The project is designed to expand access to secondary education, improve the quality and relevance of teaching and learning, strengthen technical and vocational education, enhance governance in the education sector, and eliminate the double-track system.
According to a report by Parliament’s Joint Committee, US$257.7 million about 86% of the facility will be invested in infrastructure to address the country’s secondary school infrastructure deficit.
The funds will finance the construction of 10 new senior high schools in underserved districts, rehabilitate 150 schools, upgrade 30 Category C schools to Category B and 20 Category B schools to Category A, as well as complete abandoned E-Block projects.
The project will also expand existing schools, provide furniture and other essential educational facilities, and improve the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) to support the transition to a single-track academic calendar.
The new schools are expected to be distributed across the Central, Western North, Greater Accra, Volta, Oti, Northern, Upper East, Upper West, Savannah and Western regions.
The remaining US$33.8 million from the IDA facility, together with US$31 million in counterpart funding from the Government of Ghana, will be used to improve the quality and relevance of secondary education.
The investment will support teacher professional development, curriculum reforms, digital skills training, entrepreneurship education, stronger industry partnerships and work-based learning programmes.
The committee said the project would help equip students with the knowledge and skills needed for the job market while strengthening the implementation of the revised curriculum, particularly in mathematics, science, digital education and technical subjects.
It will also strengthen education management systems, improve project monitoring and evaluation, enhance communication, promote the prevention of gender-based violence, and establish an emergency response mechanism for future crises.
The committee noted that the project is intended to address key challenges affecting the Free SHS programme, including inadequate infrastructure, overcrowding, disparities in access, insufficient laboratories and workshops, inadequate ICT facilities, shortages of teaching and learning materials, and weak alignment between secondary education and labour market demands.
Recommending approval of the agreement, the committee said the concessional financing would support the transformation of Ghana’s secondary education system and accelerate efforts to end the double-track system.
