2026 Budget: 10 Category B, 30 Category C SHSs to be upgraded - Finance Minister promises massive infrastructure devt in education
The government will upgrade 10 Category B senior high schools (SHSs) to Category A status, equipping them with modern classrooms, dormitories, libraries, science and information and communication technology (ICT) laboratories, the Minister of Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, has revealed.
He indicated that the government would engage in massive infrastructure development to increase access, enhance facilities and upgrade schools.
It is under a bold and transformative initiative to upgrade, modernise, and expand access to secondary education across the country, ensuring that every Ghanaian child, regardless of background or location, can learn, grow and succeed.
Dr Forson told Parliament when he presented the 2026 Budget Statement and Economic Policy last Thursday that the government was rolling out the Ghana Secondary Learning Improvement Programme (GSLIP), a two-year national initiative (2026–2027) to end the double-track system in secondary schools.
He said the government would expand infrastructure, enhance quality, and improve access, and that “this initiative will eliminate the double-track system and ensure that every child can attend school full-time, in dignity and in safety”.
Under the GSLIP, he said the government would increase the enrolment capacity in selected Category A schools by building new classroom blocks, dormitories and quality improvement.
“This will ease congestion and create space for additional students,” the Finance Minister said.
Reality
He said the reality was that Category A schools received overwhelming demand, while Category C schools, which had more than half of available spaces, remained under-enrolled due to infrastructure and quality gaps.
“This inequity must end, and it will end,” the minister emphasised.
Dr Forson indicated that government would upgrade another 30 Category C schools to Category B level, with new classrooms, dormitories, modern science resource centres, digital learning centres and water and sanitation systems, and that the government would complete 30 of the abandoned E-Blocks, otherwise known as Community Day Senior High Schools, in urban and peri-urban areas and expand access for students in high-demand regions.
“The programme will reduce placement pressures, quality of secondary education and boost national performance in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE),” he said, adding that “these projects will deliver not just buildings, but opportunity”.
Every new classroom, every science laboratory, Dr Forson said, was a step towards a Ghana where quality education is not a privilege for the few but a birthright for every child.
Promise
The government, he said, made a promise to continue and make the Free Secondary Education better, truly free, fair, and high-quality, and that with the policy interventions, “we are keeping that promise. We are building not just schools; we are building the future”.
Basic Education
Dr Forson said basic education had been neglected, with over-concentration on secondary education, and that the government had decided to enhance infrastructure and textbook provision at that level.
In that regard, he said, the government would construct 200 new junior high schools, 200 new primary schools, 200 kindergartens (KGs), 400 four-unit teachers’ bungalows; and 400 places of convenience in underserved communities.
“Mr Speaker, each of these will come with furnishing.
This will also provide access to more than 200,000 additional students annually,” he emphasised.
Again, he said, the government would provide free, comprehensive curriculum-based textbooks covering some key areas.
There are four sets of KG books and workbooks for about one million learners, four sets of primary textbooks for two million learners, and nine sets of textbooks for one million learners in junior high school third year.
Selected districts
Furthermore, Dr Forson said, the government would provide facilities for secondary schools and some selected district education directorates.
These would be two million pieces of metal mono-desks and chairs, 200 units of 66-seater buses, 200 double-cabin pick-ups and 50 salon cars.
“Mr Speaker, education is the most powerful investment in Ghana’s future.
Through this investment, we are building the human capital that will sustain our industrialisation,” he said.
He added that “the President’s economic diplomacy is yielding results.
During his recent visit to China, he secured about $60 million for the construction of a science and technology university at Damongo and a modern market at Aflao”.
