The Ministry of Education has dismissed reports that the government has revised the timeline for ending the double-track system in senior high schools from 2027 to 2029, insisting the minister’s reference to 2029 was a slip of the tongue.
The Ministry clarified that the government remains committed to eliminating the double-track system by 2027 through the expansion of school infrastructure under the Secondary Education Transformation for Access, Relevance and Sustainability (STAR-G) project.
The clarification follows comments by Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu at the Government Accountability Series in Accra, where he appeared to suggest that the double-track system would now be phased out by 2029 to allow for additional infrastructure development.
However, speaking on Starr FM, the Head of Public Relations at the Ministry of Education, Hashmin Mohammed, said the minister misspoke and that there has been no change to the government’s timeline.
“So, let me say it was a slip of the tongue. What I do know is that the double-track system falls under the STAR-G project, in which eliminating double-track is one of the components. Under the infrastructure aspect of the project, we intend to eliminate double-track by 2027, which is next year,” he said.
Hashmin Mohammed noted that the minister had, during the same engagement, indicated that an additional year of infrastructure expansion would be needed to create enough vacancies in selected senior high schools before the system is completely phased out.
“Even yesterday, when a question was posed to him about whether there would be enough vacancies in the selected senior high schools, he responded by saying he needs an additional one year to be able to end double-track. So that means double-track is expected to end by 2027.”
The Ministry has therefore urged the public to disregard reports suggesting that the deadline has been extended to 2029, stressing that government has not revised its implementation timeline.
