Double track is the engine for free SHS – Education Minister

Deputy Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Adutwum has dismissed suggestions the government flagship policy of free Senior High School (SHS) implementation will be sustainable without the double-track system.

“Double-track system is the engine of the free education”, he stated when he spoke on ‘Kumasi FM’ morning show hosted by Nana Yaw Mensah Joel monitored by MyNewsGh.com.

According to Bosomtwe lawmaker, it will be a dangerous decision for any government to abolish the double track system and have enough enrollment in Senior High Schools (SHSs) as being suggested by former President John Mahama and critics of the policy.

“Mahama and NDC didn’t understand the double track. Abolishing it will deny a lot of school going children the opportunity to be in school”, the Deputy Minister revealed admonishing Ghanaians to reject calls from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer, Mr. John Mahama.

The former President in December last year promised to abolish the double track system being implemented for Senior High Schools under Nana Addo’s administration if re-elected president in the 2020 elections.

“I will also work hard to abolish the double track system by investing in the expansion of school infrastructure such as additional classroom blocks and dormitories, and the completion of the 200 Community Day Senior High Schools to enable all our children attend school at the same time and have adequate contact hours with their teachers”.

Mr Mahama said there have been a number of calls for a broader consultation on the issue but President Akufo-Addo has not paid heed to the calls.

Mr Mahama said he could not understand why SHS students should be overcrowded while the E-Blocks built under his administration for the children stand abandoned.

“We have suggested broader consultation with stakeholders, including the parents of the hundreds of thousands of students whose future depend on our leadership getting this right. These have all been rubbished as anti-government propaganda, when they are nothing more than the common sense ideas being discussed around the dinner tables of Ghanaian homes and in our offices and in our media.”