Double track system may leave students rusty – Former Education Minister

Former Minister of Education, Prof. Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang has expressed fears that the double tracking system for students who will be admitted into SHS1 in September for the 2018/2019 academic year may not yield positive results as it’s likely to impact negatively on the students education.

Government has announced that it is set to roll out a double Tracking System which will be similar to the semester mode of learning applicable in the universities at the SHS level.

With this system, each track will be in school for specific days for each semester and go on vacation and come back for the second semester. While the first track is in school, the second track will be on vacation and vice versa. The objectives of the Double-track School Calendar are to create room to accommodate increase in enrolment, reduce class sizes, increase contact hours and to increase the number of holidays.

The Double-track calendar is an intervention that allows schools to accommodate more students within the same facility and is often motivated by its potential to improve overcrowding as well as to save costs relative to new school construction in the short term. It is very popular in Australia, Costa Rica, Japan, some schools in the US and Kenya.

But speaking to Kasapa News, the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, was worried that the students may be rusty after staying home for months.

“This policy where students will be in school in batches is usually implemented in universities because at that level the student is matured and knows what he or she is looking for in life. Usually most of these students who enroll under the double track system are also workers who are able to apply what they learn in school at their various work places when they go back. But with ours, we’re talking about SHS students some of whom are 13 or 14 years, what they learn in school, they’re likely to forget when they go and sit at home for three months. A lot of education must be done to explain this policy to both parents and students to ensure it doesn’t fail.”