Free SHS, double-track have improved quality of education – MoE

The spokesperson for the Ministry of Education, Kwasi Kwarteng, says the introduction of free SHS and double-track system have increased students enrollment in Senior High Schools (SHSs) and improve the quality of education.

Speaking in an interview monitored by EducationWeb.com.gh, Emmanuel Kwarteng said statistics by WAEC indicates Ghanaian candidates amid the two initiatives perform better than others from neighbouring countries in WASSCE.

“If you look at the recent WASSCE statistics, we have increased enrolment, improved class size, improved teacher-student ratio and teaching hours have increased from 1,080 to 1,134,” the Education Ministry spokesman stated.

He attributed the excellent WASSCE results of the first batch of free SHS students who sat for the 2020 edition of the WASSCE for School with students from Nigeria, The Gambia and Sierra Leone to the double-track system.

“Per the statistics available, out of over 455 students having 8 As in West Africa, we had 411 from Ghana. These 411 competed with students from Nigeria, The Gambia and Sierra Leone who don’t even run double-track,” Kwesi added.

Highlighting measures put in place to phase out double-track in some Senior High Schools, Mr Kwarteng said the government is on the course of completing 584 out 1135 infrastructure projects in the education sector.

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“That speaks to the commitment of the government to do away with the double-track. I just want to set the premise that, double-track is not a challenge but an innovation response to increasing access to education,” the PRO said.