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Stakeholders Dialogue To Analyze Double-Track System

By MyJoyOnline
General News Stakeholders Dialogue To Analyze Double-Track System
AUG 16, 2018 LISTEN

Deputy Education Minister Dr. Yaw Adutwum is confident that the new implementation of the double-track system will – in the long-term – strengthen Ghana’s economic sector.

At the Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence Wednesday, he told an engaged audience that he “feels strongly that if we have a system that gives us a major infrastructure overhaul why would you not adopt it?”

The bold move will turn Ghana’s second cycle institutions from three school terms to two. The new scheme is multi-pronged, but its main purpose is to decongest classrooms, broaden the average school day and increase enrollment rates.

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Adutwum provided an example. In the North, droves of students (specifically women), were dropping out of school because their parents could not afford to pay for the Basic Education Certificate Exams (BECE). In the South, the numbers were worse. The Ministry, he said, slashed the BECE fees, but he found that something more needed to me done. Hence, the double track system.

“We needed to do something the reason was how? People are saying we need to improve access and build more schools. We feel strongly that the greatest barrier to eduction is money. It was a financial barrier and we came with a solution.”

Read more: Double track temporary but semester system is permanent – Gov't changes SHS education

That solution included facility renovation, where the Ministry helped to add 13,000 seats in classrooms. Also, an increase in “contact hours,” a new strategy to increase the length in which students attend school during the day.

“This has positive implications on student learning,” the Deputy Minister said. “This is how we can create a pipeline of 21st century leaders who will receive a quality education.”

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Zaina Adamu | Twitter: @ZainaAdamu

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