Education researcher Dr. Barnabas Addai Amanfo has cautioned Ghana against allowing political timelines to drive the pace of education reform, urging the government to ground its plans to eliminate the double-track system in evidence, data, and realistic execution capacity.
Speaking on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Friday, May 15, Amanfo responded to the government’s $300 million STAR-J senior high school upgrade initiative with measured scepticism. He acknowledged the ambition behind the programme but said an announcement without implementation detail carries limited weight. “We must approach this as educational policy, not a political promise,” he said.
The government has set a 2027 target for phasing out the double-track system, but Amanfo questioned whether that window is realistic given Ghana’s documented challenges with procurement processes and project delivery. He called for thorough needs assessments covering infrastructure deficits, enrolment pressures, and regional disparities before any timeline is treated as firm.
On infrastructure, Amanfo identified overcrowded classrooms, inadequate dormitories and poor facilities as the most urgent problems facing secondary education. He also challenged the absence of clear, consistent criteria for classifying schools into Categories A, B, and C, noting that some lower-ranked schools outperform those in higher categories.
He raised additional concerns about teacher preparedness for technology-driven instruction, arguing that limited resources and training have left educators without the tools modern classrooms require. While welcoming plans to train teachers in digital skills and artificial intelligence, he warned against superficial rollouts, insisting that short training sessions without sustained follow-through would produce little real change.
Amanfo concluded that the true measure of the programme must be improvements in infrastructure, teaching quality, and learning outcomes rather than the administrative elimination of double track on paper.
