I suggested the double track system to Akufo-Addo – Dr Adutwum
Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum says he suggested the double track system used to contain high enrollment of students in public Senior High Schools amid the Free Senior High School to President Akufo-Addo.
The Bosomtwe Member of Parliament disclosed this when asked whose idea was the double track system in an interview with the Kumasi-based Pure 95.7 FM monitored by Pretertiary.com with host Kwame Adinkra.
Dr Yaw Adutwum in the interview said his suggestion of the green and gold track system was based on his 10 years experience of with the system when he was a teacher in the USA before his appointment as Education Minister
According to the Education Minister, the double track system first started in the United States, California in 1994, a system he said the country has used for over 10 years in some of their schools to increase student enrollment.
“It was not easy to explain the double-track system to the President and the Education Ministry because it was foreign and was going to affect so many people, including owners of private SHSs”, the Minister told host Pure Morning Drive.
According to the Minister, President Akufo-Addo approved the green and gold system for students who pass the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) to continue their education at the secondary level for free due to Free SHS.
The Education Minister said the gold and green track system or double-track introduced to ensure more BECE graduates get admission into second-cycle school is a leapfrog method that will help the country in the long run.
“A strategy where you don’t allow classrooms to be empty when school-going age children are on the street selling dog chains and can not have the opportunity for secondary education,” Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum stated.
According to him, the Akufo-Addo-led government is using the standard of international best practice of the double-track system or what is called the year-round school to increase the enrollment ratio in secondary education.
“So the double-track system is a leapfrog strategy, it is time tested, I have taught in the program in America of all places where there is money, they use it in California until they had the money to take it away,” he stressed.
He said even though the explanation of the double track system is quite confusing however it does not take away the benefit of the Free Senior High School adding that soon and very soon schools would be back on singletrack.
In a separate interview, Dr Yaw Adutwum described the double-track system which the Akufo-Addo-led government is gradually phasing out in some schools as a key factor in the implementation of the Free Senior High School policy.
His comment comes after the opposition National Democratic Congress announced they will abolish the double-track system should their flagbearer John Dramani Mahama win the 2020 presidential election scheduled for December 7.
“The National Democratic Congress has said it will abolish the double-track system but sustain Free SHS, what they do not know is double-track is the engine of the Free SHS vehicle”, the Education Minister stated in the interview.
