Free SHS: Double track an innovative strategy – Dep. Minister

The Deputy Minister for Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, says the Double track system is part of an innovative strategy to augment the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Free Senior High School (SHS) policy.

The NPP government’s Free Secondary High School (Free SHS) educational policy was an initiative introduced in the 2017 September Presidential administration of President Nana Akuffo-Addo.

The double track system was introduced by the government in order to enable various SHS to take in more students to ensure that all students have access to the Free SHS policy.

The double track system is in two parts Gold and green tracks.

Speaking in an interview with host of Atinka FM’s AM Drive, Ekourba Gyasi, the Deputy Minister for Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum noted that every new policy needs a strategy that leapfrogs the nation and that with the Free SHS, the double track system was one of the strategies.

“We knew we had to use innovative strategies and the double track is one of them, because from the onset the demand for the free SHS was not known. The demand for the first year was around 365,000 which shot to about 450,000 in the second year. We looked at the progress of the demand and worked with the double track system. In the western world, they do all round school, which is not different from the NPP’s double track”, he explained.

Touching on why government is considering reviewing the Double track system despite its efficiency, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum noted that the policy is a short term strategy which can be re-implemented when the need arises.

He maintained that the double track system is a life saver adding that it came at a time where most students would not have had the opportunity to attend SHS.