By Anthony Adongo Apubeo
Paga (U/E), Aug. 13, GNA – The government of Ghana, under the Strategic Secondary Education Transformation and Reform for Jobs (STAR-J) project, is investing GH¢3 billion in secondary education to expand and improve access and quality of education for all Ghanaian children.
The investment is aimed at addressing infrastructure deficits, ending congestion and eliminating the double-track system in senior high schools across the country.
President John Dramanin Mahama made the announcement at Paga in the Kassena-Nankana West District of the Upper East Region when he commissioned an E-Block facility for the Paga Senior High School.
He said the government had set a target to end the double-track system in all secondary schools by 2027 to enable students to attend school at the same time, enjoy equal teacher-contact hours and improve learning outcomes.
“We realised that one of the things affecting Free Senior High School was the reduced contact hours between the students and their teachers. And so, if we end the double track, it will increase the students’ teacher contact hours and we believe that that will improve their performance in the WASSCE,” he said.
The President said the STAR-J project would also support the construction of 30 new E-Block senior high schools across the country, particularly in high-population-density communities where they would serve as community-based schools.
He explained that the government had, in the 2026 budget, allocated funds for the completion of 30 abandoned E-Block projects started under his previous administration.
“Any project into which government has sunk money already, if you don’t finish it, it is a waste of the taxpayers’ money. And so, we are going to finish the E-Blocks that we started,” he said.
President Mahama said the Paga Senior High School was among the abandoned projects being completed under the programme, noting that students had previously been using parts of the facility under “very, very terrible conditions.”
He directed the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETF
und) to fast-track the provision of furniture and other equipment to enable the school to operate fully.
The President further announced that the Paga Senior High School would be absorbed as a boarding school from 2027 academic year, with the construction of boys’ and girls’ dormitories and a dining hall.
He also promised the school a new 60-seater bus, saying the vehicle would be provided even before the boarding facilities were completed.
President Mahama urged the management of the school to make it a centre of excellence and ensure that the investment in infrastructure translated into improved academic performance.
“I want to see that the children here pass 100 per cent,” he said.
GNA
Edited by Caesar Abagali/Benjamin Mensah
Reporter: Anthony Adongo Apubeo
Email: [email protected]