Mr Patrick Awuah, founder of Ashesi University, shared his perspective on Ghana's controversial double-track system under the Free SHS initiative, commending it as a "clever idea" aimed at maximizing resources and addressing educational demands in a challenging economic landscape. "I don't know whose idea it was to have two tracks, to have kids in school for six months and out of school for six months," Awuah said. "But it's a very clever idea.
Let me explain why I think it's a clever idea." Awuah explained that before the double-track system was implemented, students spent seven months in school and five months out, leaving school infrastructure largely unused for almost half the year. "Five months, infrastructure was sitting idle.
Every year, five months," he emphasized.
By compressing the academic year from seven to six months and increasing daily contact hours, students now receive the same or even greater instructional time despite the reduced term length. "Even though the kids are in school for only six months out of the year instead of seven, they actually have more contact hours today than they did before," Awuah pointed out, adding that this shift in daily scheduling wasn't widely understood by the public. "I don't think that this has been communicated well enough to the citizens of Ghana.