The double-track system took off smoothly in various senior high schools (SHSs) throughout the country yesterday to ease congestion in public schools.
However, parents and guardians in some schools raised concerns about the registration of first-year students under the system which is akin to the semester mode in tertiary institutions.
Enrolment in the various SHSs in the country has skyrocketed largely due to the introduction of the Free SHS programme by the current Akufo-Addo administration.
There was confusion in some schools because both Green Track students, who are starting school with immediate effect and Gold Track, who would go to school on November 8, have all thronged the campuses to register.
This came to light when DAILY GUIDE visited some of the schools to assess the implementation of the programme and challenges associated with it.
At Bompeh Senior High Technical School, Archbishop Porter’s Senior High, Ghana Secondary Technical School, Ahantaman Senior High and Methodist Senior High School, many parents were seen assisting their children to go through the registration process.
Some parents at the Bompeh SHS complained that their children with Green Track were told they belonged to the second batch.
Other parents also asserted that some teachers informed them that the Visual and General Arts students were to start classes yesterday.
Later, Catherine Biney, Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Metro Directorate of Education, said various headmasters had been tasked to take internal measures to ensure smooth running of the system.
She said “. . . if the technical students had been asked to start classes with the second batch, then it meant it was part of the school’s internal arrangement.”
She explained that the double-track system would give opportunities to students from deprived communities to have access to quality or first-class education.
Ms Biney added that under the double-track system, contact hours would be increased to allow students to have more holidays to enable them prepare well for examination.
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