”It is better to educate children under trees than making them stay home” says the vice president of Ghana,Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.

His comments come on the back of numerous dissenting views on the country’s double-track system in Senior High School(SHS) education.

Addressing the audience at the Kumasi Town Hall meeting today, the vice president raised concerns on the need to give children an education even if physical structures are unavailable.

Dr. Bawumia made a comparative analysis between the implementation of the double-track system and the National Health Insurance Scheme.

He explained that “in fact, if you apply the same logic, then the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) wouldn’t have seen the face of light. During the implementation of the NHIS, we did not have all hospitals built. Even today we are still building hospitals.”

“Would it have made sense for the country to say, let us finish building all hospitals before implementing NHIS?”, he questioned.

The vice president further stated that abolishing the double track system means scrapping free Senior High School.

“Those who are criticising the double-track have not been able to offer a single alternative. All they are saying is they will abolish the double-track system and that is essentially saying they will scrap Free SHS” he stated.

Dr. Bawumia also touted Ghana’s successes with the double-track system.

“The Education Ministry of Kenya requesting the support of Ghana's Education Ministry to enable them to design a double-track system for their country’s education sector is laudable”.

The double-track system was introduced by President Nana Akufo-Addo in 2018 after the second year of the Free SHS policy. This was to afford the government the capacity to deal with a large number of placed candidates who would not have had the opportunity to access Free SHS as a result of lack of classroom space.

Vice President Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia headlining the first government town hall meeting for 2020 in Kumasi outlined with data evidence the Akufo-Addo administration’s achievements in three years.