Government to upgrade 20 Category B schools to Category A and build 10 new schools

Government is expected to recruit an additional 10,000 teachers next year as part of efforts to address staffing shortages in basic and secondary schools, Minister for Education Haruna Iddrisu has announced. The recruitment is expected to be captured in the 2027 Budget, alongside plans to expand infrastructure across the education sector. Mr Iddrisu said the 2027 GETFund formula would dedicate between US$250 million and US$300 million towards improving facilities in 10 Category A schools, while 20 Category B schools are also expected to be upgraded to Category A status.

He further raised concerns about the state of Technical and Vocational Education and Training, arguing that practical training must take a more central role. “TVET remains the surest way to reduce unemployment and underemployment. But you go to a TVET school and it is 90 per cent theory and 10 per cent practical.

That is unacceptable,” he said on TV3 on Friday, September 11. He also said more than 850,000 vacancies had been declared nationwide, insisting that the main challenge in the school placement process was the demand for particular schools rather than an overall shortage of spaces. Addressing former Education Minister Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum’s suggestion that the current administration could seek his advice on resolving placement challenges, Mr Iddrisu said the figures from the 2026 placement exercise demonstrated the scale of the problem.

He noted that about 328,000 students selected Category A schools despite only 76,000 vacancies being available. “Show me any minister, including Dr Adutwum, who can fix that problem by placing 313,000 in 76,000 vacancies. You have a miracle to do that,” he said, adding, “So, when he says come to me for advice, what advice?”

The government is set to upgrade 20 Category B Senior High Schools to Category A status as part of efforts to create more opportunities for students seeking admission to the country’s most sought-after schools. Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu also announced plans to construct 10 new model Category A schools, bringing the number of institutions targeted for Category A status to 30. The move is intended to ease the pressure on the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS), particularly the intense competition for limited vacancies in Category A schools.

Mr Iddrisu said the government had secured $300 million from the World Bank through the STARR-J initiative to support the infrastructure expansion. He further disclosed that he had directed GETFund to dedicate between GH¢250 million and GH¢300 million in the 2027 funding formula to expand facilities in 10 Category A schools. Speaking on TV3 on September 11, he said, “We are going to convert 20 Category B schools into A and we will build 10 new model Category A schools in the country.” The Minister said the upgrade was necessary because demand for Category A schools had outpaced available capacity following the introduction of Free SHS.