Ghana has secured $300 million from the World Bank to expand infrastructure in senior high schools across the country, Minister for Education Hon Haruna Iddrisu has announced.
The funding is expected to help address the growing pressure on facilities following the increase in student enrolment under the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy.
Speaking on TV3’s New Day programme, the Minister said the support will be used to upgrade schools and expand existing facilities to improve access to secondary education.
“Thankfully, President Mahama and the Ministry of Finance, the World Bank is supporting the Ministry of Education with 300 million US dollars,” Hon Haruna Iddrisu stated.
According to him, the project will upgrade some Category C schools to Category B, convert some Category B schools to Category A, and expand infrastructure in existing Category A schools.
He explained that although the Free SHS policy increased access to secondary education, infrastructure development did not keep pace with the rising number of students.
“Yes, you(NPP) launched Free Senior High School, but the previous administration failed to provide expanded infrastructure by way of classrooms, lecture theatres and ICT to accommodate the exponential increase in numbers,” he said.
The Minister added that the Ministry has begun engagements with the World Bank on procurement processes and expects contracts to be awarded soon.
“On or about May or June, we should award contracts and get contractors to begin work so that within a year we should be able to expand access to Free Senior High School,” he noted.
He also revealed that the government has allocated GH¢4.2 billion through the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to support the Free SHS programme, including the provision of food for students.
Hon. Haruna Iddrisu further disclosed that plans are underway to establish a Free SHS secretariat with regional coordinators to improve supervision and address operational challenges in schools.
