Double track system won’t affect continuing students – GES

• Posted on September 5, 2018
• by Ellsamwise King
• Comment

The Ghana Education Service (GES) has assured that the implementation of the double track system will not have a toll on the schedule of continuing students.

According to the Service, although continuing students in Senior High Schools across the country will operate the newly introduced semester system, they will not partake in the double-track system.

This September, second cycle schools in Ghana will be running a semester module as part of moves to address infrastructural challenges brought on by the Free SHS programme.

Government rolled out the Free SHS policy in September 2017 in fulfillment of its campaign promise in the build to the 2016 general election.

But less than a year after its implementation, a number of challenges such as the non-availability of space has forced government to adopt a new mode of operation for second-cycle institutions – the double track system to take effect in September 2018.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Wednesday, Issac Asiedu Odai, Deputy Public Relations Officer of the GES said the double track system does not apply to continuing students, hence will not affect their academic calendar in any way.

“We are running the semester system for all the year groups. So the form 2s are going for the semester programme uninterrupted.

“When the Green Track vacates, they will come and join the Gold Track midway. So it is not as if they are going on different, it is just grouping the semester into two so they go for the first 41 days, and you join the continuing students and your colleagues in the first track. The continuing students are going for two semesters in the academic year, he explained. ”

Double track system just like multiple church services – Bawumia

Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has likened the double track system which is to begin in senior high schools this month, September, to multiple church services mainly due to lack of space and high numbers.

He said the soaring numbers of Junior High School leavers coupled with government’s policy to tackle poverty through the provision of education makes the double track system viable for the time being.

He described it as an innovative idea.

“The churches have taught us that if you have one church building and you have many churchgoers, you can have one service at 7:00 am and the second service at 9:00 am and they will all still get the word of the Lord. So we are using innovative means to bring in the double track system,” he added.

Double-track system: ‘Gov’t only experimenting with students’ lives’- Ablakwa

Former Deputy Minister of Education, Okudzeto Ablakwa has rubbished government’s claims that the double-track system will address challenges associated with the free SHS policy.

He believes the government’s decision to introduce the system will only create more challenges.

“If the current government knowing that anytime we have introduced social intervention, enrollment numbers have gone up, they should have been able to anticipate and put in place the needed intervention because all the experts agree that the double track system leads to dwindling quality that is why the government itself is saying that this is a temporary measure and they are hoping that we will come back to the current system. We are talking about human lives. Why experiment the future of our country to such needless experimentation because of improper planning?”

GES releases SHS placement for double track system

The Ghana Education Service (GES) has released the placements of 423,134 students who have successfully made it under the 2018 Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS).

This is out of 521,710 total registered candidates. It means 67,382 could not be placed under the system. The over 400,000 will also begin the double track system introduced by government.

List of 400 Senior High Schools released for double track system

Already, government has released a list of Senior High Schools that will be captured under the much touted double-track system of enrollment.

400 out of the 696 public SHSs have been selected to operate the system. According to the list, the double intake will bring the total of newly proposed enrollment to 387, 592 students, with 193,796 as the total double intake per track.

In a release by the GES, it said candidates are to visit www.cssps.gov.gh to access their placements. It said candidates placed on the GREEN TRACK will resume on September 11, 2018, whereas the GOLD TRACK will resume on November 8, 2018.