The government has backtracked on its decision to implement the semester system at the basic level, that is from kindergarten through primary to the junior high school level.
The decision to reverse the earlier announcement comes in the wake of several concerns raised by different stakeholders, including the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), the Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT) and some parents.
A statement issued in Accra over the weekend and signed by the press secretary to the Minister of Education, Mr Felix Baidoo, said initially, the Ministerial Committee on School Calendar issued a calendar for the current academic year indicating that kindergarten to junior high school was to be based on the semester system.
This statement received mixed reactions amongst various stakeholders such as teachers and their unions.
“The Ministry of Education, after the directive to commence the semester system, has received representation from key public stakeholders to revert to the trimester system. As a result, the Minister for Education has directed that the calendar for kindergarten to junior high school for the current academic year should revert to the trimester system,” it said.
To this end the dates for the various school terms for kindergarten to junior high school are as follows:1st Term18th January – 14th April 2022 (13 weeks)15th April – 9th May (vacation), 2nd Term10th May – 18th August 2022 (15 weeks), 19th August – 12th September 2022 (vacation), 3rd Term13th September- 22nd December 2022 (15 weeks).
Meanwhile, the public was yet to be notified on the scheduled meeting between management of the Ghana Education Service and representatives of the various teacher unions in the country.
Last week both parties agreed to further engage in order to come to a common understanding on the implementation of the new school calendar for basic schools.
The agreement followed a meeting of the service and the unions to discuss concerns raised by the unions against the new calendar.
Present at the meeting were the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, Professor KwasiOpoku-Amankwa and other management members, representatives of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT).
BY CLIFF EKUFUL
