Double intake for Free SHS is Smart- Prof. Stephen Adei

The proposal on double admission into Senior High Schools under the Free SHS policy has been endorsed by a  former Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Professor Stephen Adei.

“It is the most ingenious, sensible way of giving quality education,” he intimated, adding, “It is the smartest solution to addressing the challenges that come with the free education.”

 

The proposal

Prof. Adei was commenting on the proposal of a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba, Professor Jophus Anamuah-Mensah, that the country should consider a multi-track system in the second cycle educational system, saying it was the best way to go.

In an interview, he said he wholeheartedly agrees with Prof. Anamuah-Mensah’s proposal, adding, “I am all for it and totally agree with the professor.”

He explained that the system is necessary to enable the country to address the large numbers of students seeking secondary education and deal with the congestions in the various schools.

 

Different set of teachers

Prof. Adei, however, explained that what is required for the managers of education in the country to recruit a different set of teachers to handle the students such that each track of students had its different set of teachers with each set having its own headmaster, “so, for instance, Achimota School will have two headmasters, one for each track.”

He described the system as one of the most ingenious and innovative ideas ever mooted out, explaining that last year for instance, because of the Free SHS policy, the classrooms were congested and such an idea should be embraced and implemented immediately.

“Technically, children go to school for only about 180 days in a year, so why spread it such that we have so much overcrowding?

“You can have two streams, multi-track, whereby one goes to school for about say, three months, another goes to school for three months, so you end up with the same contact hours and at the same time, every facility is being used twice, so that instead of having, say, 80 students in the class, immediately you have 40,” he explained.

 

Lowering standards

Rejecting complains that the system would result in lowering standards, Prof. Adei said unfortunately whatever innovation that was brought forward, those who were used to the status quo would kick against it.

He said he believed that those who were kicking against the concept had not really examined the concept, adding that it was the most efficient way of ensuring equity without compromising quality.