Gov’t Will Get Every Child Educated - Mustapha Hamid

Information Minister Mustapha Hamid says the Akufo-Addo led New Patriotic Party administration will do all it can to ensure that every child in the country is educated.

According to the Minister, it is to this end that the government introduced the free Senior High School policy last year.

He also called on parents and Ghanaians in general to support the programme to succeed.

The Minister said this when he explained to the media measures government was taking to improve education in the country.

“The NPP had the interest of the country at heart and would do things that would be in the interest of the nation,” he said.

President Akufo-Addo, during the launch of the cutting-edge educational initiative, noted that he made the Free SHS pledge because he knew that knowledge and talent are not for the rich and privileged alone, and that free education widens the gates of opportunities to every child, especially those whose talents are arrested because of poverty.

Last month, the President disclosed that government was introducing the Double Track System to deal with increased enrollment under the Free SHS programme. He explained further that the objectives of government is to create room to accommodate the increase in enrollment, reduce class size, increase contact hours, and increase the number of holidays.

Throwing more light on the Double Track System, Dr Hamid said a lot of research and consultation were being done on the viability and feasibility of the policy before it was implemented.

"The person whose vision we are driving is the President of the Republic of Ghana and the President of the Republic of Ghana’s vision is that every child who goes to secondary school goes for free,” he said.

He therefore advised the public not to play politics with education, because the President and the government were focused in delivering on its promises to the good people of Ghana.

Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, a Deputy Minister of Education, who took the media through the Double Track System said, the concept was an innovative strategy to ensure that, any child was not left out of education.

“The Double Track system is a stop-gap measure for the government to be able to build more infrastructure to accommodate the ever-growing student population in school", he said.

The Double Track System to be executed in September is similar to the semester system in the universities. The student population will be divided into tracks. The first track will be in school for specific days in a semester and will go on vacation. While on vacation, the second track will come to school for the same number of days. The first batch will then return for the second semester.

The new system is expected to increase in enrolment as well as contact hours, while still reducing class sizes.