The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has called for the double-track system in senior high schools to be maintained temporarily, arguing that the arrangement should remain in place until government expands infrastructure sufficiently to accommodate all qualified students.
GNAT General Secretary, Thomas Musah, made the call in an interview, stressing that the country must carefully weigh its available options amid renewed concerns over this year’s Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS), which has left more than 55,000 candidates reportedly without confirmed places in senior high schools and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions.
According to Mr Musah, while the double-track system has faced persistent criticism since its introduction, its continued use may remain unavoidable until Ghana’s secondary school infrastructure expands enough to comfortably absorb the growing number of qualified candidates each academic year.
“The issue of the double track, where we are now, we need to weigh our options, if we don’t have any option than the double track, then please, we need to continue with it,”
Thomas Musah
Infrastructure Expansion Presented as The Real Fix
Mr Musah’s comments suggest that GNAT views the double-track system not as a preferred policy outcome, but as a necessary compromise given the current constraints facing Ghana’s secondary school system.
He indicated that once sufficient infrastructure is developed to accommodate all qualified candidates within a standard single-track system, the rationale for maintaining double-track scheduling would naturally fall away.
This position places GNAT’s stance in close alignment with broader government commitments to eventually phase out double-track scheduling, a transition that has previously been described by education officials as dependent on the completion of ongoing infrastructure expansion projects, including new school construction under various government initiatives.
Context: A Placement System Under Strain
Mr Musah’s remarks come at a moment of heightened public scrutiny over the CSSPS, with more than 55,000 candidates from this year’s BECE cohort still without confirmed placement into senior high schools or TVET institutions.
This figure has featured prominently in recent public debate, with various stakeholders, including opposition politicians, civil society organisations and education advocacy groups, offering competing explanations and proposed solutions for the ongoing placement shortfall.
Against this backdrop, GNAT’s position on double track appears to reflect a broader concern that the country’s secondary school infrastructure remains fundamentally unable to accommodate the full scale of qualified candidates each year, a structural challenge that predates and extends beyond the specific placement issues currently under public discussion.
Mr Musah’s comments reflect the difficult balancing act facing education stakeholders navigating between two competing pressures, the well-documented criticisms of the double-track system, including concerns over reduced instructional time and disrupted academic calendars.
Equally pressing need to ensure that all qualified students have access to some form of secondary education, even where infrastructure remains insufficient for a full single-track system.
By explicitly calling for double track to be “weighed” as an option rather than abandoned outright, Mr Musah’s position suggests that GNAT views the current infrastructure gap as too significant to responsibly eliminate the system in the short term, despite its acknowledged shortcomings.
Continuing National Conversation
GNAT’s intervention adds a further dimension to the ongoing national conversation around Ghana’s secondary school placement and infrastructure challenges, Following recent commentary from various stakeholders on the underlying causes of this year’s CSSPS shortfall, including concentrated demand for Category A schools and the pace of new school construction under government’s infrastructure expansion plans.
With government having previously indicated ambitions to eventually transition away from the double-track system as new school infrastructure comes online, attention will likely turn to how these expansion efforts progress in the coming years.
Whether GNAT’s conditional support for maintaining double track in the interim aligns with the pace at which government is able to deliver the additional classroom and boarding capacity needed to accommodate Ghana’s growing population of qualified secondary school candidates.
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