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 facility is aimed at expanding access to secondary education, improving the quality and relevance of teaching and learning, strengthening technical and vocational education, enhancing education sector governance and eliminating the double-track system.
According to the report of Parliament’s Joint Committee, US$257.7 million, representing about 86 per cent of the facility, will be allocated to infrastructure development to address the country’s secondary school infrastructure deficit.
The infrastructure component will finance the construction of 10 new secondary schools in underserved districts, the rehabilitation of 150 schools, the upgrading of 30 Category C schools to Category B, and 20 Category B schools to Category A.
It will also support the completion of abandoned E-Block projects, expansion of existing schools, provision of furniture and essential educational facilities, and improvements to the Computerised School Selection and Placement System to facilitate a transition to a single-track academic calendar.
The committee noted that 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.
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 invested in improving the quality and relevance of secondary education programmes.
According to the report, the funds will support teacher professional development, curriculum reforms, digital skills development, entrepreneurship education, stronger industry partnerships and work-based learning arrangements.
“The component will improve teaching and learning and ensure that secondary education equips students with knowledge and competencies relevant to the labour market,” the committee stated.
It added that the government’s counterpart funding would support continuous professional development for teachers and instructors to strengthen the implementation of the revised curriculum and improve learning outcomes, particularly in mathematics, science, digital education and technical subjects.
The project also includes measures to strengthen education management systems, improve project monitoring and evaluation, enhance communication, promote gender-based violence prevention and establish a contingent emergency response mechanism to address eligible emergencies.
The committee explained that the project was designed to address persistent challenges facing the Free Senior High School policy, including inadequate infrastructure, overcrowding, disparities in access, insufficient laboratories and workshops, inadequate ICT infrastructure, shortages of teaching and learning materials, and weak alignment between secondary education and labour market needs.
Recommending approval of the agreement, the committee said the financing would provide Ghana with concessional resources 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.
It further observed that the government had prioritised infrastructure development by allocating a significant portion of the facility to that component and recommended that the House approve the US$300 million credit agreement.
