A World Bank backed $300 million initiative to upgrade 50 senior high schools under Ghana’s STAR-J programme is promising but risks falling short without clear timelines and a genuine equity focus, an education policy expert warned Friday.
Kofi Asare, Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, told Asaase Radio’s Breakfast Show that the intervention targets a real structural weakness in Ghana’s education system but said speed and implementation clarity remain the most critical unknowns.
Under the programme, 30 Category C schools are earmarked for elevation to Category B status, while 20 Category B institutions will advance to Category A. Asare said the tiered approach could rebalance student demand and ease congestion at elite schools, but only if upgrades to lower-category institutions are substantive and visible.
“Any attempt to end the double track must entail expanding absorptive capacity,” he said, pointing to chronically weak infrastructure in Category C schools as the primary historical driver of demand toward top tier institutions.
Ghana introduced the double track system in 2018 as an emergency response to overcrowding triggered by the rollout of Free Senior High School (Free SHS). While the policy widened access, it has drawn sustained criticism for shortening instructional time and intensifying academic pressure on students nationwide.
The government has also announced plans to construct additional community day schools and invest in teacher development, covering digital literacy and artificial intelligence training.
Asare cautioned, however, that infrastructure expansion alone will not resolve deeper systemic problems, including teacher shortages, performance gaps between institutions, and uneven learning outcomes across regions.
Analysts tracking the programme say its success will depend on transparent implementation, equitable resource distribution, and measurable gains in learning quality rather than expanded access alone.
