General News of Sunday, 11 November 2018
Source: citinewsroom.com
2018-11-11
File photo
Students placed in the second batch of the double track system known as Gold Track began reporting to their various senior high schools yesterday, Saturday.
Day students are expected to report on Monday, November 12, 2018.
The system which forms part of the free Senior High School programme (SHS), began in September 2018 and saw students in the first batch, the Green Track attending school for two months.
Those placed in the Gold track waited within the two months period and are now beginning their academic year. They are also supposed to vacate in December 2018.
The Head of Communications at the Free SHS Secretariat, Josberta Gyan Kwakye in a Citi News interview said they are ready for the new group.
“Since we are at the weekend the boarders are expected to go to school for their prospectus and begin their admission processes while the day students are to report on Monday. We placed the students simultaneously so currently we are expecting a total number of about 470,000 to be in school for the 2018/2019 academic year. For the budgetary allocation, the government budgeted for GHc1.2 billion for the entire academic year,” she added.
In the Greater Accra Region, some students on the Gold Track at the St. Mary’s SHS said in a Citi News that they are hoping their endeavors on campus will be successful.
“People are now coming in, and the seniors are helping us with our things. I’m hoping that everything will be fine,” one of them said.
In the Volta Region Citi News’ correspondent, Benjamin Aklama reported that students have begun reporting to their various schools of placement in the region.
He said on Saturday, only about 100 boarding students had reported.
“In Mawuko, more students were reporting. In Nkwanta Senior High School, the gold track students were also arriving from time to time to do their registration,” he added.
About double track
The government rolled out the Free SHS policy in September 2017 in fulfillment of its campaign promise in the build-up to the 2016 general election.
The policy has so far increased enrollment in senior high schools by about 90,000 students.
But less than a year after its implementation, a number of challenges such as the non-availability of space have forced the government to adopt a new mode of operation for second-cycle institutions – the double track system which took effect in September 2018.
Education Ministry deploys over 7,000 staff for Gold Track
The Ministry of Education had earlier said it has deployed over 7,000 teaching and non-teaching staff to various Senior High Schools across the country for the gold track system.