Double-track system successful – Akufo-Addo brags

Despite the problems facing the newly introduced Double -track system in the educational sector, President Akufo-Addo has described the double-track system as successful following the enrollment of the first batch of students into the various senior high schools in the country.

According to him, the double-track become necessary following the government’s commitment and determination to continue the free senior high school programme despite the huge increment in enrollment.

The SHS double-track system is similar to the academic calendar used in the universities. With this system, each track will be in school for specific days for each semester and go on vacation and come back for the second semester. While the first track is in school, the second track will be on vacation and vice-versa.

The objective of the double-track system is to create room to accommodate all students, reduce class size, increase contact hours and increase the number of holidays.

Speaking at a dinner held in his honour at the residence of Ghana’s Ambassador to the U.S.A on Sunday, 24 September 2018, Nana Akufo-Addo said the double-track is one of the important achievements of his government.

He said: “A couple of weeks ago, we entered the second year of our free senior high school programme. This year, we had to accommodate double the number of students that we accommodated last year.

“In the first year, 90,000 extra young boys and girls entered the senior high school system than they had a year before. This year, it is double that number, which is 180,000, and because we are determined to continue the programme and make sure we broaden access to education in Ghana, we had to devise a way of using the existing infrastructure to accommodate this larger population of students and what we have come out with is the double-track system.

“I did a tour of the Central Region just before I came and I discovered there that that is, in fact, my name – Nana double track, but we had to find a way to do it and God willing, so far, it has worked very well.

“The first stream, the green stream, all of them have been fully accommodated and in November, the yellow stream will also go and it seems to have gone on very well. So for that I’m very grateful to especially, Mathew Opoku Prempeh and Dr Yaw Adutwum, the two ministers who have been shepherding this whole process.

“This is an important achievement that we have made. I’m hoping that by the end of the term, we’ll be in a position to accommodate everybody in Ghana.”

Nana Akufo-Addo also disclosed his desire to introduce a law that will keep Ghanaian student’s in school compulsorily until after senior high school.

“In fact it is my view that we move to compulsory legislation for our educational system, have a law that says that every single Ghanaian child must go to school and stay in school until the end of secondary school and I’m hoping that by the end of my term, such a law will be on the statute books of our country,” he stated.

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