Make documents on double-tracking system policy public – Former Education Minister

Former Education of Minister, Professor Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang, has appealed to the government to, as a matter of urgency, make documents relating to the double-track or semester system available for public scrutiny.

Speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen Tuesday, Professor Opoku Agyemang said making the documents public will help shape the discourse.

“We can’t jump onto the fray when the policy document which will spell out how this programme will be run isn’t shared with the public; it will help in knowing what the policy is about and, to a large extent, help us predict it’s outcome,” she said.

Watch: Government has to go back to the drawing board and look at how to restructure the whole Free SHS system- Bright Appiah

Government is finalising steps to start the double-track or semester system to boost enrollment under its flagship free Senior High School (SHS) education programme.

Education Minister, Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh, made the revelation at a sensitisation programme organised for education directors of, heads of senior high school and public relation officers in the education sector on Saturday, July 21.

Read: Free SHS to run double-track system amid concerns by NAGRAT

The double-track year-round system, the education ministry says, puts students and staff into two different tracks so that while one track is in school, the other is on vacation.

The rotation sequence will depend on the year-round calendar being used. In Ghana, the school calendar starts from September and ends in April with three different terms. The first term is from September to December, the second term starts in January and ends in April while the third term is from April/May to July.

But the former Minister, who was Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast wants the government to proceed with caution by consulting stakeholders in education.

Also commenting on the free SHS policy, Professor Opoku Agyemang noted that the policy was not different from the progressively free SHS that was being implemented by the former National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration.

“If you are paying for only the first-year students and leaving out both the second and third years, is that not a progressive way of introducing a programme”, she asked.

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