Mathew Opoku-Prempeh – Minister of Education
GOVERNMENT HAS clarified how the double-track system for the Free Senior High School (SHS), expected to be introduced by September 2018, is going to be implemented.
According to President Akufo-Addo, the double-track system, which has generated heated political debate, shall run in all the categories A and B senior high schools in the country.
With that, DAILY GUIDE understands government is due to make monthly savings of GH¢1.3 billion which would have been required to accommodate the increase in enrollment which has come with the introduction of the Free SHS, a social initiative aimed at providing higher education for Ghanaian children.
The President said that the new programme would create a calendar of two semesters in a year for the SHS 1 class, containing 81 days per each semester and 41 days of vacation for a sandwich class.
Over 8,000 teachers are being recruited to handle the sandwich classes; hence teachers will not be deprived of their holidays.
Under the new system, teaching hours are due to increase from six hours per day to eight hours per day.
Teaching hours are expected to increase from 1,080 hours per year under the current single-track system to 1,134 hours per year under the proposed double-track system.
DAILY GUIDE understands that the new system is expected to cost GH¢323 million for its full implementation.
Accordingly, about GH¢267.2 million of this amount will go into teaching costs and GH¢55.8 million for academic interventions.
Among the infrastructure needs are 622 six-unit classroom blocks costing GH¢404 million, 181,993 student desks costing GH¢81.6 million, and 3,730 teachers’ furniture estimated at GH¢3.6 million.
Meanwhile, Minister of Education, Mathew Opoku-Prempeh, is scheduled to address the media on Tuesday, August 7, in Accra, probably to throw more light on how the system is going to run and why Ghanaians should not panic over its introduction.
BY Melvin Tarlue