The office of Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, former Minister of Education, has strongly refuted assertions by current Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu that the double-track system negatively impacted education quality in Ghana.
Responding to the remarks made by Mr. Iddrisu at a media briefing in Accra on August 21, 2025, Dr. Adutwum’s spokesperson, Yaw Opoku Mensah, described the Minister’s claims as misleading and contradicted by data. During the briefing, Mr. Iddrisu had argued that the double-track policy reduced contact hours and compromised academic standards, announcing the formation of an 11-member committee to oversee its phase-out.
Opoku Mensah, however, offered a different perspective. He explained that the double-track system, introduced in 2018 alongside the Free SHS policy, was a necessary emergency intervention to accommodate an unprecedented surge in student enrollment. Prior to its introduction, senior high schools had capacity for only 277,537 students—falling short by nearly 182,000 students against the expected 472,730.
“The system prevented widespread exclusion, averting about 11.5 percent of students in the Northern sector and 35 percent in the Southern sector who would otherwise have missed out due to lack of space,” he said.
Contrary to claims of compromised quality, Opoku Mensah stressed that the double-track system actually expanded access to top Category A schools for students from underprivileged backgrounds and increased annual contact hours from 1,080 to 1,134, while maintaining a 180-day instructional calendar. He highlighted that academic performance improved under the policy: WAEC records show over 60 percent of graduates gained admission to tertiary institutions during the double-track period. Additionally, Ghana produced the best WAEC candidates in West Africa for four consecutive years.
He further noted that the double-track system was phased out in 2021, making way for the current transitional calendar. Opoku Mensah urged government officials to ground public discourse in facts rather than politicizing education policy interventions that expanded access and improved outcomes.
Background
The double-track and Free SHS policies were introduced in 2018 under President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, with Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh as Education Minister. Dr. Adutwum later managed the policy until its phase-out. The initiative aimed to expand access to senior high school education while addressing critical infrastructure deficits.
Source: Apexnewsgh.com
