The Ghana Education Service (GES) will from this academic year, suspend the double-track system employed in Senior High Schools across the country starting with the first-year students.

Announcing the decision on JoyNews, the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, Prof Kwasi Amankwah said nearly all the schools across the country have sufficient infrastructure to accommodate the students.

"This year, we don't intend to do double-track for the first years. The double-track came in because of the subscription of some schools that people wanted to go into and we felt that we should give them the opportunity to go there," he stated.

He further indicated that in almost all these schools, the GES has "built enough to cater for the students so they don't necessarily have to do double-track".

He, however, added that some of these schools are still over-subscribed which leaves a team of these students out of school for the academic year in view.

The green and gold double-track system was introduced by government to increase the intake of the country's various Senior High Schools and help manage the infrastructural deficits of these schools following the implementation of the Free SHS policy.

Throughout its implementation, many have kicked against the system, stating that it will affect the quality of teaching and learning.

Responding to whether this phasing out of the double-track system is in reaction to the criticism the system has received, he stated: "No, we are not bowing to the pressure".

"We will be phasing it (double track) out gradually. But the fact of the matter is that no matter the situation we can never build to catch up with the numbers,” he told Emefa Apawu.

He also revealed that there will be no more massing up at the independence square to address school placements.

As part of measures to curb the spread of Covid-19, he assured parents and guardians of the efficiency of the virtual platform introduced by GES to resolve senior high school placement challenges nationwide.