FSHS Debate: Double-track system lazy man’s approach – Ablakwa

A former Deputy Minister of Education and Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, described the double-track system as a lazy man’s approach towards solving a problem.

He further said the system was an afterthought as a result of poor planning.

Contributing to a debate on Ghana’s educational system on The Key Points on TV3 Saturday August 29, he said “The doubl-track is a lazy man’s approach. You have inherited Community Day schools, 125 which are being constructed. What do you do? Between January  and September, learning from Professor Mills’ example  you could have completed those schools.

“That was why we were doing progressively free SHS , building the schools and then taking care of the poorest of the poor because you are keeping an eye on quality .

“Now you have a situation where you abandoned the schools , sat aloof, then September comes , you are exposed, there is congestion , parents are angry , students are complaining then you come up with double-track . Double track is an afterthought because of poor planning.”

But Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Second Cycle, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, disagrees

He explains that the renowned Brookings Institution, an American research group founded in 1916 on Think Tank Row and based in Washington, D.C, has hailed the introduction of the double-track system to enable more students have access to secondary education in Ghana.

According to Dr Adutwum, Brookings noted that the double-track system is one of the best practices to move a third world country towards attaining first world status.

It is recalled that months after the system was introduced, the Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia said on January 4, 2020, at a durbar of Chiefs and People of Akuapem- Abiriw, that the double-track system under the Free Senior High School Policy, was a stopgap innovation to provide access to 69% of students who would have ordinarily been denied access to education.

Contributing to a debate on Ghana’s educational system on the Key Point on TV3 Saturday August 29, Dr Adutwum who is also the Member of Parliament for Bosomtwi told host of the programme Abena Tabi that “If you look at Singapore, from third world to first world , when you begin to put your nation in that context and say we have to transform Ghana  and make it first world, the question that you get or the sense of the urgency that comes to the fore is then, what do you need to do?

“What we need to do in order to transform this nation is to make sure education takes its rightful role in the socio-conomic transformation process. But for education to take its rightful role and become fit for purpose you have to look at what Brookings Institutions suggested.

“They suggested that if you don’t want your nation to wait for 126 years then you have to leap frog inequality , which means you for best practices that will allow you to do more with less.”

By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana

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