A former President of Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana POTAG James Dugrah has called on the public to disregard persons who try to politicize the Double Track System introduced by the government to afford every qualified student to access secondary education.
He maintained that the Double Track System is a well thought-out policy meant to assuage the sufferings of students in congested schools and therefore needs unwavering support from stakeholders.
“The Double Track System is meant to assuage the sufferings of our children but not to entertain any individual, politician or group of persons. We must therefore eschew politics for the policy to inure to our benefit,” he said.
Mr. Dugrah was speaking at a Press Conference at Wa in the Upper west Region as part of efforts to sensitize Ghanaians to the positives of the Double Track System.
The launch and subsequent implementation of the Free Senior High School Policy in the 2017/2018 academic year saw an astronomical increase in the enrollment figures in all public Senior High Schools.
This led to congestion in classrooms, dormitories as well as other related challenges. Government has therefore introduced the Double Track system to address the pressing challenges while it works to expand infrastructure.
The former POTAG President Mr. Dugrah who is also the Executive Secretary for the Double Track Volunteers, DTV described the introduction of the system as laudable and called on the public to give their unflinching support for the intervention to succeed.
“Most of those who those who crying foul about the double track system, might have gone through the shift system, which was on a daily basis, but the Double Track System being implemented will be on a semester basis. What is strange and a big deal about this?” he questioned.
He stressed that “for the sake of our children, we should stop displaying gross hypocrisy. The critics are not only politicizing the policy but rather poisoning the educational atmosphere. This does not augur well and cannot fit into the development of our children.”
Mr. Dugrah appealed to teachers to sacrifice a small part of their time to organise free vacation classes for students who will be at home while others are in school.
He urged the government to complete and furnish the Day Senior High Schools started by the Mahama administration saying “I will also appeal to government to embark on a speedy journey to expand the facilities in the school and continue to put finishing touches on the Community Day Schools project initiated Former President John Dramani Mahama’s government to ease accommodation challenges and other related matters on our school campuses.”
Mr. Dugrah also called on religious bodies and organisations to assist government to speedily construct new classrooms and dormitories for second cycle institutions.
Story by Mark Smith
