The New Patriotic Party (NPP) says the National Democratic Congress (NDC) does not understand the government’s double-track system hence its promise to abolish it if it assumes power is untenable.
The Director of Communications of the NPP, Yaw Buaben Asamoa at a press conference on Monday said the NDC’s promise is only to win votes in the December elections and not any genuine desire to improve education in Ghana.
Mr. Asamoa’s comment was in reaction to NDC flagbearer John Mahama‘s promise in the Asunafo North district recently that his government will immediately after it comes into office, abolish the NPP’s double-track system.
But Yaw Buaben Asamoa said the promise is borne out of ignorance of the country’s educational situation.
“Any promise by the clueless NDC leadership to abolish double track in seven months is unrealistic, shameless and desperate. It is obvious that the NDC does not understand the double track system, and have no real commitment to Free SHS,” he said.
He explained that the NPP government after implementing the Free SHS programme which increased access to education, introduced the “innovative intervention” double-track to accommodate all students.
“Available data between 2013 and 2016 indicate that, on the average, 100,000 children, every year, passed the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) but could not take up their places in SHS, because they could not afford the fees, even though they had the qualifications. This represented about 35% of the total number of children who had been placed. Of those who took up their places, 22% dropped out, again due to financial reasons,” Yaw Buaben Asamoa said.
He indicated that the Free SHS programme which occasioned the double-track has given a significant boost to parents and students in the country as it has afforded many people who would have otherwise not gone to school, the opportunity to be admitted.
“Free SHS has therefore come as a major boost to parents, students and the nation. The important pillars of the Free SHS programme are Access, Quality and Relevance…To cater for increase in enrolment in the second year of the FSHS due to the surge of candidates who had been home due to lack of funds, and who sought to benefit from the programme, the Double Track System was introduced in 2018 as an innovative intervention to make room for all successful candidates, with a clear timeline of 5-7 years to phase it out as more infrastructure was built in the 400 or so schools that went on double track, out of the total of about 721 SHS in this country. Over the last three years, more than 1,000 structures, including dormitories, classroom blocks and laboratories are being delivered in SHSs across the country,” he said.
