According to a story published by Myjoyonline, President John Dramani Mahama has announced that Ghana’s double-track system in Senior High Schools will be completely phased out by 2027, through a major educational infrastructure expansion programme under the STARR-J initiative.
The website quotes the President as saying that with the backing of a $300 million World Bank facility, the project seeks to upgrade 50 secondary schools nationwide, including transforming 30 Category C schools into Category B institutions and 20 Category B schools into Category A schools.
According to the President, the intervention is aimed at ending congestion in schools, improving educational quality and expanding opportunities for students across the country. He stressed that the policy goes beyond infrastructure development and seeks to promote equity and better learning outcomes.
The programme will also revive the Community Day School concept through the construction of E-blocks in urban and peri-urban communities, to reduce pressure on boarding facilities. President Mahama explained that allowing more students to attend schools within their communities would help ease overcrowding in boarding schools and eventually eliminate the need for the double-track arrangement.
Introduced under the Free SHS policy to absorb increasing enrolment, the double-track system enabled thousands of students to access secondary education. However, concerns have persisted about overcrowding, reduced academic contact hours, pressure on teachers, disrupted academic calendars and declining educational quality. The government now believes expanded infrastructure and improved planning will make a full return to a single-track system possible by next year.
The decision by President John Dramani Mahama to end the double-track system by 2027 deserves broad national support. While the system played an important role in accommodating the surge in enrolment brought about by the Free SHS policy, it has increasingly become clear that it was only a temporary emergency solution rather than a sustainable educational model.
To be fair, the previous administration deserves commendation for introducing policies that expanded access to secondary education. Thousands of students who would otherwise have been denied admission gained the opportunity to continue their education because of Free SHS and the double-track arrangement. Access to education improved significantly, and many families benefited enormously from reduced financial burdens. That achievement cannot be ignored.
However, access alone is not enough. Education must also be defined by quality, consistency and adequate learning conditions. Over the years, numerous studies, teachers, parents and education experts have raised serious concerns about the damaging effects of the double-track system on teaching and learning outcomes.
One of the biggest challenges has been reduced instructional time and disrupted academic continuity. Although students alternated between school and home to ease congestion, many spent long periods away from the classroom, affecting retention and syllabus completion. Research by the University of Ghana found declines in academic performance in double-track schools compared with non-double-track schools.
The burden on teachers and school administrators has also been enormous. Teachers have repeatedly complained of exhaustion, stress and burnout due to compressed academic calendars and continuous teaching schedules. Some reports even linked the system to deteriorating family and social lives among teachers because they barely had adequate rest periods.
Infrastructure challenges further exposed the weaknesses of the policy. Dormitories, classrooms and dining halls in many schools became overstretched. Studies documented overcrowded classrooms, students sleeping on floors and schools struggling with insufficient teaching materials and delayed funding. These are not conditions that support quality education or healthy child development.
There were also broader social concerns. Critics argued that prolonged periods at home contributed to indiscipline, learning loss and teenage pregnancies among some students. While these issues cannot be blamed entirely on the double-track system, the irregular academic calendar undoubtedly created challenges for supervision and continuity.
This is why the proposed transition away from double-track is both necessary and timely. Expanding infrastructure, upgrading schools and reviving community day schools represent a more sustainable response to increasing enrolment. Community-based schools, in particular, can reduce pressure on boarding facilities while keeping students closer to their families and communities.
Ghana’s educational ambition should not merely be to place children in classrooms, but to provide an environment where effective teaching and meaningful learning can thrive. Ending double-track is, therefore, not a rejection of Free SHS, rather it is an effort to improve and stabilise it.
The country has learnt valuable lessons from the past few years. Now the focus must shift from emergency accommodation to long-term educational excellence.
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