President John Dramani Mahama has announced that the government aims to eliminate the double-track system in all senior high schools by 2027 through an ambitious programme of constructing new schools and expanding infrastructure in existing institutions across the country.
Speaking during his ‘Resetting Ghana Tour’ of the Volta Region on Friday, July 17, President Mahama said the government’s priority is to ensure that every senior high school student studies under a single academic calendar, bringing an end to the double-track arrangement introduced to address overcrowding in schools.
“We want by 2027, no child in secondary school in Ghana should be on double track,” the President declared.
According to him, the administration will achieve this target by building 16 new senior high schools while simultaneously expanding classrooms, dormitories and other critical facilities in existing schools to accommodate all students at the same time.
“We’re building 16 new secondary schools, and then we’re expanding the facilities in all the existing secondary schools so that all the children can go to school at the same time and vacate at the same time,” he said.
President Mahama disclosed that the education infrastructure programme will be financed through a $300 million World Bank facility, which has already received Cabinet approval and will soon be laid before Parliament for consideration.
He explained that the funding forms part of the first two international loan agreements approved by his administration since assuming office.
“Only last week, the Cabinet approved the first two loan agreements that we’re bringing to Parliament. For the first time in this government, the first two loan agreements,” he noted.
The President stressed that despite governing for one and a half years, his administration has not borrowed from the international capital market, describing the newly approved facilities as targeted investments to support national development.
“Indeed, when the Local Government Minister was speaking, he said that for one and a half years, we haven’t contracted a single loan from the international market. We haven’t taken a single loan,” Mahama stated.
He further revealed that the first approved facility is a $500 million World Bank agreement dedicated to improving feeder roads across the country, adding that communities in the Volta Region will be among the beneficiaries.
The government believes that expanding educational infrastructure and improving access to quality learning environments will help phase out the double-track system permanently, while the feeder roads project is expected to improve transportation, boost agricultural productivity and stimulate economic development in rural communities.
