Extra curricula activities won’t change under double track system

Students enrolled on each track of the double track system could participate in competitive sporting and other extra curricula activities, which are held during the school year, Mrs Mary Owusu Achiaw, the Ashanti Regional Director of Education, has said.

She was responding to a question at an educational forum on whether or not that aspect of the educational calendar was not going to suffer with the implementation of new system.

Mrs Owusu Achiaw, allayed the fears of students, parents and other stakeholders, saying, the various sporting events – the inter-schools and colleges’ athletics as well as school cultural activities were not going to change and encouraged students to welcome and accept whichever track they were place unto.

All the two tracks of the system – green and gold – would have the same benefits.

She added that even the out of -school stream, could participate at all stages of such events.

The forum was organized by the Ghana Education Service (GES) for Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCES) in the Ashanti, on the double track system.

The aim was to give the MMDCEs’ a first-hand information and in-depth knowledge of the newly introduced system, as key stakeholders of the programme.

The Regional Education Director said the new system, which was going to start on Tuesday, September 11, would not be permanent but an intervention to get more qualified students into the Senior High Schools.

“It would also allow for increased contact hours between students and teachers’ whiles also giving the teachers more time to complete their syllabi as well as reduce congestion in classroom due to reduction in class size.”

Out of 521,170 registered candidates, 490,514 candidates qualified to be placed by the Computerized School Selection Placement System (CSSPS).

Mrs. Owusu Achiaw told the gathering that since the implementation of the Free SHS, last year, enrolment trends had increased drastically.

A total of 361,171 students were enrolled in 2017, compared with the previous year’s figure of 308,799.

The new system, she said, was going to make the educational system in the country successful since countries including Japan, China, Brazil, Costa Rica and Kenya, which had adopted it, chalked great successes.

Madam Elizabeth Agyemang, Deputy Ashanti Region Minister, said the government’s aim of moving from the three school term to two was laudable and must be embraced by all.

Source: She gave the assurance that stalled GET Fund projects would be completed. GNA