President John Dramani Mahama has announced plans for the government to construct 30 new e-blocks across the country as part of efforts to expand access to secondary education, reduce congestion and end the double-track system by 2027.

Speaking at Paga in the Upper East Region on Thursday, August 13, the President said the new schools will be constructed under the STAR-G project, which is investing GH¢3 billion in secondary education.

He explained that many of the new e-blocks will be located in high-population-density communities, particularly in major cities, to serve as community-based secondary schools and make access easier for students.

The President also said the government has allocated funds to complete 30 abandoned e-blocks this year, stressing that projects already funded by taxpayers should not be left unfinished.

"We started the e-block concept. That was to expand access to secondary education because we realized at that time that a little over 500 and something secondary schools were not enough to contain the number of children that were to be expected under the free senior high school program. So we wanted to accelerate the construction of 200 new e-blocks so that the children would have enough space in secondary and not let it end up in double track."

"Now under the STAR-G project, we're going to build another 30 new e-blocks. These ones, 30 from the scratch. The ones I talked about, we're finishing the abandoned ones. We're going to build another 30 new e-blocks across the country. So there'll be 30 new secondary schools across the country. A lot of these new ones are going to be in high population density areas", he said.

President Mahama added that the expansion of secondary school infrastructure is key to ending the double-track system, increasing teacher contact hours and improving learning outcomes.