8,872 tutors to be recruited for double-track – GES

Government is to recruit about 8,872 additional tutors for the double track programme which begins tomorrow, September 11, 2018, in over 400 selected senior high schools in Ghana.

According to the Director-General of Ghana Education Service (GES), Professor Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, the recruitment process has already commenced.

Speaking at a press conference in Accra today, Monday, September 10, 2018, Prof. Opoku-Amankwa said no teacher would be allowed to be on more than one track.

“800 people were trained to draw up a timetable. They have done that and out of that, we have been able to identify the number of teachers that we need to supplement the existing number of teachers. It is 8,872, and if you take this, it will tell you the number of teachers that they need, and the subjects that the teachers should be recruited into,” he added.

“Under the double track we realized that if we don’t plan properly, teachers may be teaching all-year round and they may not have time for themselves. They may break down and we will have a lot of casualties. We’ve planned it in such a way that if you are a teacher in a given track when the schools are on vacation then you will also be on vacation.”

We’re ready to receive double track beneficiaries – CHASS

In a related development, the General Secretary of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS), Very Rev. Abraham Osei Donkor, says the various Senior High Schools in the country are ready to receive beneficiary students of the double track system.

“For readiness we are. Even tomorrow [Tuesday], some parents are reporting to the various schools to take the list for their wards and other instructions for them to prepare to come. So for the schools, they are ready,” Very Rev. Abraham Osei Donkor said in an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show on Monday.

He said the schools are currently sorting out issues which have to do with the number of students placed in the various schools by the computerized school placement system.

“Maybe the only rough edges being ironed out are the lists that have come to the schools, and if there are any discrepancies, they are sorting them out,” he added.

Rev. Donkor said all the classrooms and the necessary facilities for use by the new students have all been taken care of.

“When form ones are coming, we make sure classrooms earmarked for them are ready, tables, chairs, learning materials etc are ready.”

The CHASS General Secretary in an earlier interview with Citi News said they have notified government of schools that have issues with their staff strength.

“We have really prepared the timetable looking at our staff strength. Where there are shortfalls we have notified government.  I think that we should all get involved, and be optimistic for us to get the intended benefits,” the CHASS General Secretary added.

About double track system

Beginning September 2018, second cycle schools in Ghana will run a semester module as part of moves to address infrastructural challenges brought on by the Free SHS programme.

To this end, some 400 out of the 696 public senior high schools have been selected to operate the system.

The schools would accommodate the over 180,000 students.

This, the government says it will ensure the fulfillment of its promise of providing equal opportunity for every Ghanaian child to gain access to secondary education.

How the double track system will be run

This new system will run in all the categories A and B senior high schools in the country.

The new programme creates a calendar of two semesters in a year for the SHS 1 class, containing 81 days per each semester and 41 days of vacation for a sandwich class.

Over 8,000 teachers are being recruited to handle the sandwich classes, so teachers are not be deprived of their holidays.

Under the new system, teaching hours are increased from six hours per day to eight hours per day. The new system is expected to cost GH?323 million to implement fully.

GH?267.2 million of this amount will go into teaching costs and GH?55.8 million for academic interventions. Without the double-track system, the government will require GH?1.3 billion to accommodate the increase in numbers.

Among the infrastructure needs are 622 six-unit classroom blocks at the cost of GH?404 million, 181,993 student desks costing GH?81.6 million, and 3,730 teachers’ furniture estimated at GH?3.6 million.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citinewsroom.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

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