A university professor in the US State, California says the multi-track system if implemented, may help in addressing the challenges with overcrowding but not much may change in terms of academic performance.
Prof Harry Odamteng of the Santa Clara University of African and Atlantic History says, his State has been successful in implementing the system but has not seen a grave change in the performance of students.
He told Joy News’ Baba Mahama that contrary to the notion that the new system government intends to roll out in the 2018/2019 academic year which begins in September, solves the problem of overcrowding but does little for student learning.
“Available research indicates that there is not much of a difference between the traditional calendar and the multi-track system because some of the same learning outcomes were found in both systems.
“There is no particular increase in students’ academic performance, so there not really a marked difference; what it just helps with is the administrative advantages the school, district and the community is able to have.”
Government’s decision to implement the multi-track – double track or semester – education system in some senior high schools across the country, has left parents and some stakeholders in the education sector anxious.
One of the reasons government has given for its decision, is to allow more students entering senior high school in the upcoming academic year to have access to education and reduce the overcrowding and increase enrollment as the free SHS programme takes its toll.
Uncertain how the system will run, largely due to government’s lack of consultation on the issue, some stakeholders believe its disadvantages outweigh the advantages.
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A senior research fellow at the University of Education, Winneba, Dr. Daniel Yielpieri said the system could cause a social crisis.
But Prof Odamteng says this has not been the case in California.
The system, rather with its longer vacations he noted, “helps them [students] in being interested in the materials they are taught in school rather than the traditional calendar where you have both student and teachers burn out because of the long school years that the traditional system has.
“Some people believe the students are much more in sync with what is going on and are able to retain a lot of stuff rather than being given too much information within a long period,” he added.
Another challenge the multi-track system may come with is the maintenance of facilities.
Prof Odamteng said if a larger number of students are going to be using the same tired facilities, then steps must be taken to ensure that they are repaired frequently.
“We are going to have a larger number of students using our already small facilities. Are we going to be able to maintain these facilities in the face of the large numbers if we are going to use that system,” he queried.
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For him, however, an adequate preparation of teachers and students, sensitisation of education service and facility managers should suffice.
“And we have to make sure that the resources that the students need are available and transferable from one track to the next track.
“Because, I foresee problems like that. That one track may have certain resources but by the time another track is ready to enter school, those same facilities may not be available because of problems of maintenance,” he said.