President John Dramani Mahama has said beginning next year(2026), the government will upgrade 30 Category C Senior High Schools (SHSs) with new infrastructure such as dormitories, laboratories, classroom blocks and STEM facilities.
He said this would ensure that every student placed in SHSs across the country would have access to the best facilities for quality education to guarantee them admission for tertiary education.
President Mahama said this while addressing the 65th anniversary celebration of Ghana SHS (GHANASCO), his alma mater, in Tamale.
President Mahama was accompanied by his wife; First Lady, Mrs Lordina Mahama, who is also an old student of GHANASCO.
The anniversary celebrations drew large crowds comprising Ministers of State, Members of Parliament, high ranking officials from both public and private institutions, some old students and current students, and members of the public.
President Mahama said the challenges associated with the school placement system were partly due to disparities among Category A, B and C schools, hence the decision to upgrade 30 Category C SHSs.
He said the government had also planned to complete 30 abandoned E-blocks, which were started during his first term as President, to expand access to secondary education.
He touched on reforms within the secondary education sector, saying the Free SHS Programme had been strengthened with dedicated funding, ensuring timely release of resources to schools and the National Food Buffer Stock Company to avoid food shortages.
President Mahama gave assurance that the government would construct a new classroom block, a boys’ dormitory, provide a school bus, upgrade science laboratories, and construct a 5,000-seat auditorium for GHANASCO to improve its infrastructural situation.
He said teachers’ bungalows at the school would also undergo a facelift.
On the water crisis at the school, he said the construction of mechanised boreholes had been approved to address the situation.
He added that work would begin next year on the Damango-Tamale Water Project, which would pump water from the White Volta at Yapei saying “When that project is completed, GHANASCO’s water problems will be a thing of the past.”
GNA
