SHS double track to end in 2027. 50 schools to be upgraded - President Mahama
The President, John Dramani Mahama, has said the government will end the double track system in senior high schools (SHSs) by 2027.
This will be made possible by upgrading 50 SHSs with a $300 million World Bank facility under the Transformative Secondary Education for Access, Results and Relevance for Jobs (STARR-J) project.
Under the initiative, 30 category C schools will be upgraded to category B, and 20 category B schools to category A.
Speaking in Accra last Wednesday, the President gave a firm commitment that “by 2027, there should be no secondary school implementing a double track system in Ghana.”
“The STARR-J project is going to assist Ghana government achieve its target of bringing an end to double track in our secondary school system by next year,” President Mahama stated.
He added that the programme had been designed to expand educational infrastructure, improve quality and widen access to secondary education across the country.
“This strategic investment is not simply about expanding infrastructure; it is fundamentally about promoting equity, improving quality and widening opportunities for every Ghanaian child,” President Mahama stressed.
Community day schools
The investment would also cover reviving and operationalising the community day school concept through the construction of new E-blocks in urban and peri-urban communities.
“These are going to be community day schools but they are going to be built in urban communities where it will be easy for the children to commute to school and back,” he explained.
“What this means is that if we get some of the children to go to school within their communities, it will ease the pressure on the boarding schools that are elsewhere,” he added.
The President expressed the optimism that the policy would reduce pressure on boarding facilities in existing senior high schools.
“By 2027 there should be no secondary school implementing a double track system in Ghana.”
He added that ending the system would also improve teaching and learning outcomes by giving teachers more time to prepare adequately.
Teachers benefit
President Mahama also revealed that the programme would include continuous professional development for teachers to equip them with modern teaching skills and digital competencies.
President Mahama further stated that all secondary school teachers would benefit from continuous professional development programmes, including digital literacy and artificial intelligence integration.
On teacher career progression, the President said advancement to senior ranks was no longer dependent on the availability of administrative positions.
“Teachers can now progress on merit, competence, experience, performance, and years of dedicated service,” President Mahama said.
Double Track System
The double-track system was introduced as a direct consequence of the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy, which was launched in September 2017.
Following the policy’s implementation, student enrolment in public senior high schools surged by more than 30 per cent, exposing a critical shortage of classrooms, dormitories and other facilities.
To avoid turning away qualified students or compromising the quality of instruction, the government of President Nana Akufo-Addo adopted the double-track system as a stop-gap measure.
The system commenced on Tuesday, September 11, 2018, for the 2018/2019 academic year, initially covering 400 out of 696 public SHSs.
It was implemented under the leadership of the then Minister of Education, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, who argued that the arrangement would allow schools to absorb the increased numbers without waiting for years for new infrastructure.
Under the double-track system, students were divided into two cohorts, initially named the Green Track and the Gold Track.
While one track was on campus receiving academic instruction, the other track was on a scheduled break. The two tracks alternated in intervals of about three months, running the school calendar in shifts.
Challenges
While it made it possible to increase student access, education stakeholders expressed concern about the long weeks spent at home, which exposed their children to social vices.
It was also the criticism of parents, teacher unions and opposition politicians that family routines, an accelerated curriculum, and the strain on both students and staff had become the new challenges the system brought about.
Mahama’s commitment
Following the change of government, President Mahama has made the phasing out of the system a central priority of his administration.
Citing the negative impact on students, teachers and parents, the government has also allocated GH¢1 billion from the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to complete stalled infrastructure projects in affected schools.
The stated goal is to end the double-track system entirely by 2027, returning all SHSs to a single-track, year-round academic calendar.
