Education Minister cautions against rushing to cancel the double-track system

The double-track system should not be scrapped hastily, as Education Minister Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum has warned that doing so might have long-term effects on pupils’ prospects.

His comments follow the National Democratic Congress’s (NDC) promise to do away with the double-track system if it wins the 2024 election.

In order to accommodate more students, Dr. Adutwum emphasized that the system must be phased out methodically, starting with facility expansion.

He emphasized that the Ministry of Education has already made strides in phasing out the double-track system and building extra accommodations in a number of schools, with plans to expand this process to further institutions.

Dr. Adutwum stressed that eliminating the double-track system for political reasons alone would run the danger of causing further educational difficulties when he spoke to the clergy in the Ashanti Region on Tuesday, October 29 about the state of education in Ghana.

“When the concept of the double track was introduced in Ghana, it was to meet the increased demand in enrolment in our High Schools, especially the category A schools. So, it will surprise you to know that a number of the schools are no longer double-double track, even those schools with double track, we have transition calendars.

“A school like Tamale Senior School (SHS) is no longer double-track, in fact, we’re working for Opoku Ware Senior High School, and it’s likely that it will not be double-track this coming academic year. Because the government had built more facilities there.

“Some people come here to say that we will [they] abolish double track, and I say to myself, they don’t know what they are talking about.

“If you abolish the double track at Prempeh College today, they will not be able to enroll one student. Presec will not take in one student. If you don’t want double track and you cancel double track, 1,500 students who are going this year will not have space, so they can’t go.

“Do we cancel it in the name of politics and push 1,500 students away from Opoku Ware? It’s our choice, but that choice is disastrous.”

The Double-Track System of Education was introduced in the 2018/19 academic year in 400 senior high schools across the country. This was due to increase in enrolment as existing facilities in senior high schools could not accommodate the increase.

Seventy per cent of Senior High Schools (SHS) that run the double-track system will reverse to the single-track system when the new academic year begins, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, Minister of Education, has announced.

He said the government was putting measures in place to ensure that schools which could accommodate their students were given the needed infrastructure to reverse to the single-track system.

Source: Ghanatodayonline.com