The 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 says 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 thought 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 an innovative means to bring in the double track system,” he added.
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Dr. Bawumia made the comment when he was addressing the chiefs and people at this year’s Oguaa Fetu Afahye celebrated by the people of Cape Coast in the Central Region.
The Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah was the first to liken the double track system to multiple church services, and he was widely criticized for that comment.
“We have some of the Christian churches and because the church cannot take the number of people in the church, they have first service, second service third service, fourth service. Do they receive lower quality preaching or teaching?”
“If you are a Christian and you are talking against the second service, then why do you go to the second service? Why do you go there at all? It is not going to reduce the quality. It is going to solve a problem for almost everybody who qualifies to go to senior high school to go to Senior High School free of charge,” the minister said on August 22, 2018.
Addressing the crowd, the Paramount Chief of the Cape Coast Traditional Area, Osabarima Kwesi Atta II, appealed to the government to clarify issues about the double track system for Ghanaian to understand the policy.
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The Paramount Chief also asked the people of Cape Coast to desist from acts that destroy the coast of Cape Coast such as defecation of the area to promote the ailing tourist industry in the Central Regional capital.
Osabarima Kwesi Atta II noted that irresponsible acts on the beaches in the area have led to a reduction in the tourists visiting the area.
About double track system
Beginning September 2018, second cycle schools in Ghana will run a semester module as part of moves to address infrastructural challenges brought on by the Free SHS programme.
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To this end, some 400 out of the 696 public senior high schools have been selected to operate the system.
The schools would accommodate the over 180,000 students who are expected to gain admission into SHS this year.
This, the government will ensure the fulfillment of its promise of providing equal opportunity for every Ghanaian child to gain access to secondary education.