Free SHS to run shift system – Minister of Education

The Minister of Education, Matthew Opoku Prempeh has hinted that the flagship ‘Free SHS’ will start the double track system in order to boost enrollment soon.
He said that the system will make sure more students are enrolled unto the programme, as compared to the current situation.

He 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.

The double-track system is a process where students and staff are in school or vacation at the same time within an academic year.

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But the double year-round system divides the entire student body and staff into two different tracks. So while one track is in school, the other is on vacation.

According to Dr Prempeh, the new system will close an enrollment gap of 181,99, adding that as it stands now only 90,000 spaces are available for the 2018 September intake.

Because the new system reduces the contact hours between students and teachers, a remedial school will also be instituted on Saturdays for English and Mathematics where the government is committed to pay GHS50 per student per semester.

But the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) is urging caution ahead of such a policy.

NAGRAT President, Angel Carbonu, said “I would suggest that Prof. Anamuah and his team should start a stakeholder discussion on this issue. Let us not rush into something like that.”

“In the document that I saw, this policy is supposed to last for only five years because within the next five years, what we are hearing from the corridors of power is that government would have then built infrastructure to accommodate all the two streams. When that happens, what would you do with those teachers? We need to sit down and discuss this situation thoroughly as a nation. Let us not rush into something that will spite our faces over time,” he said.