Matthew Opoku Prempeh – Minister of Education
Government has announced plans to absorb extra classes fees for students on campus and on vacation under its much anticipated Double track System.
Based on last year’s enrollment, the government has projected enrollment figures for 2018 to stand at 472,730 against available seats of 290, 737 leaving a gap of 181, 993.
In order to accommodate the expected number of enrollment, the government has resolved to introduce a system called double tracking which will be similar to the semester mode of learning applicable in the universities and is expected to last for seven years.
Addressing the media Tuesday at the meet the press series in Accra, Education Minister Mathew Opoku Prempeh said the government was adopting the system while putting in measures to build enough educational structures.
During the implementation of the policy, the Education Minister said, “government is going to provide per head GHC50 to every student as academic intervention, where the teachers if they have to organize extra lessons in Maths and English, will not charge their students.
“The government will give them money to be able to pay for the extra classes.”
He added that for students who will be on the green track, breaking frequently, “we are organizing to have extra classes at home and give them work when they are going home so that they can fulfill it.”
Government, he further observed, “will provide centres in the constituencies for them (students) to engage [and] meet teachers.”
The double tracking system has been slammed by Former President John Dramani Mahama and a litany of think tanks including IMANI Africa and ISODEC as needless.
ISODEC, for instance, attributed lack of due diligence on the part of government before implementing the fee-free education policy as the cause of the current crisis the nation is experiencing at the SHS level.
But speaking to Starr News, Deputy Education Minister Dr Adutwum explained that the system will last for only seven years, to allow the government to address the accommodation challenges in the various SHSs after which the schools will revert to the normal education calendar.
“This is a stop-gap measure, even in all countries that have used it,” Dr Adutwum told Ultimate FM’s, Isaac Bediako Justice.
Also, the system, according to the Education Ministry, will offer students more instructional and contact hours with teachers.
-Starrfmonline