Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh is a former education minister
The 2024 running mate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has dismissed assertions by the Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, that the introduction of the double-track system under the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy has compromised the quality of education.
Dr Opoku Prempeh, who served as Minister of Education, described the Minister’s comments as unfounded and not supported by any empirical data.
He made the remarks during an appearance on Joy News’ PM Express.
According to him, the only consistent measure of quality over the last 60 years has been the results of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), which, he argued, demonstrate clear improvements under the Free SHS programme.
“For the first time in 16 years, we had more than 50 percent of our students pass all four core subjects in 2020. That year also recorded the best overall WAEC results since Ghana joined the Council, with 88 percent of all West African candidates who scored eight A’s coming from Ghana. The top three candidates in the entire sub-region were also Ghanaians,” he stated.
Dr Opoku Prempeh further explained that the double-track system, contrary to criticisms, actually increased student contact hours — the key determinant of learning outcomes.
Before Free SHS, he noted, the annual contact hours stood at 1080 which translates into three (3) terms in a year.
However, the implementation of Free SHS increased the contact hours to 1,134 through a restructured academic timetable. This translates into two (2) semester in a year.
He clarified that the double-track arrangement simply shifted schools from the traditional three-term system to a semester-based structure, which enabled more effective teaching and learning.
Furthermore, the semester-based structure system added 54 hours contact hours a year.
This means that in the three-year period, 162 more contact hours were added to enable the students fully complete all the courses they were reading.
“During the full six (6) semesters before exams ensured full contact time for the curricula before the WASSCE exams compared to a loss of three (3) terms (1080) in the nine (9) terms”, he asserted.
Dr Prempeh revealed that, prior to the policy, academic calendars were often disrupted, with school selection and placement processes sometimes extending into December.
In some years, he said, first-year students missed an entire first term, contributing to poor outcomes.
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“Under the old nine-term structure, three terms were effectively wasted. That is why examination results from that era were consistently poor.
At one point, WASSCE examinations began in February, even though February was not the second term, leaving students disengaged for long stretches,” he argued.
Dr Opoku Prempeh also referenced the Anamuah-Mensah Committee report, instituted under former President John Agyekum Kufuor, which recommended extending the SHS duration to improve learning.
He said the subsequent four-year system produced excellent results until it was reversed under the Mills administration a period during which, he claimed, the NDC government did not publish WASSCE results due to the stark performance gap.
He stressed that Ghana’s educational outcomes have consistently shown that the decisive factor is not the number of terms in the school year but the number of instructional hours available to students.
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