The Office of Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, former Minister of Education, has dismissed claims by Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu that the double-track system negatively affected education quality.

Mr. Yaw Opoku Mensah, spokesperson for Dr. Adutwum, said the Minister’s claims were misleading and contradicted by available data.

His comments follow remarks by Haruna Iddrisu at a media briefing in Accra on August 21, 2025, where the Minister argued that the policy reduced contact hours and compromised academic standards. He further announced the formation of an 11-member committee to oversee its complete phase-out.

But according to Mr. Opoku Mensah, the double-track was introduced in 2018 alongside the Free SHS policy as an emergency intervention to absorb the historic surge in enrollment.

Before its introduction, Ghana’s senior high schools had space for only 277,537 students, leaving a shortfall of nearly 182,000 against an expected enrollment of 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 explained.

He stressed that suggesting the quality of education was impaired as a result of the double-track system is misleading. On the contrary, the policy expanded opportunities by opening access to high-performing Category A schools for students from rural and inner-city communities who might never have gained such placements.

Mr. Opoku Mensah further pointed out that the double-track system actually increased annual contact hours from 1,080 to 1,134, sustained the 180-day instructional calendar, and delivered improved academic outcomes.

“Records from WAEC show unprecedented performance during the double-track period, with over 60 percent of graduates gaining admission into tertiary institutions. Ghana also produced the best WAEC candidates in West Africa for four consecutive years,” he added.

He noted that the double-track was phased out in 2021, paving the way for the transitional calendar system currently in use. He urged government officials to present accurate facts on education policies rather than politicising interventions that expanded access and improved student outcomes.

Background

The double-track and Free SHS policies were introduced in 2018 under the government of former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, with Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh serving as Education Minister at the time. The policy was later managed and supervised by his successor, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, until its phase-out. The initiative sought to expand access to senior high school education while addressing severe infrastructure deficits.