EDUWATCH opposes GES permanent Semester Academic Calendar

The Executive Director of African Education Watch (EDUWATCH) Mr. Kofi Asare has opposed Ghana Education Service (GES) Permanent Semester Academic Calendar for Pre-tertiary Schools.

According to the Africa Education Watch, the speculations that they were consulted by the Ghana Education Service regarding the 2022 academic calendar and the introduction of semester at the pre-tertiary level is a fallacy.

Kofi Asare explained that, there was no point were they or their Executive Director consulted by the Ghana Education Service and Ministry of Education in the decision to make the semester system permanent.

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EDUWATCH was reacting to a comment made by Dr. Kwabena Bempah Tandoh (Deputy Director General of Ghana Education Service) on Monday, January 17, 2022 on Citi FM Breakfast Show.

EDUWATCH in a release dated January 17, 2022 stated that, “For the records, at no point was Eduwatch or its Executive Director ever consulted by GES/MOE in taking such a decision. Like all other citizens, we were only informed through GES’s Facebook page. The culture of confusing information with consultation in the education sector must end”

The Ghana Education Service has released the academic calendar for the 2022 Academic Year.  The Kindergarten (KG) and Primary Schools are joining the Junior High Schools to practice a semester system instead of the usual trimester (three terms). Several stakeholders in the Education Sector have called on GES/MOE to reverse their decision.

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“Our attention has been drawn to a comment made by a Deputy Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Dr. Kwabena Bempah Tandoh on Monday 17th January’s edition of the Citi FM Breakfast Show to the effect that, Eduwatch was consulted by the GES in the decision to make the semester system permanent, per the new academic year calendar in Ghana’s basic and secondary schools.”

“For the records, at no point was Eduwatch or its Executive Director ever consulted by GES/MOE in taking such a decision. Like all other citizens, we were only informed through GES’s Facebook page. The culture of confusing information with consultation in the education sector must end.” He added.

“Critical systemic decisions like permanently changing a 3-term academic calendar system that predates independence should not be left for a GES/MoE Committee that did not even consult the Parliament. The lessons from the 3- year Vs 4-year SHS duration tango which affected our education system during the Kufuor-Mills era must remind us of the relevance of building broad stakeholder consensus on such key systemic decisions.”

The four (4) main programmes under the Ghana Education Service (GES)

“While we appreciate the need to harmonize the pre-tertiary calendar, the semester system cannot be used as the yardstick for harmonization since it is only an ad-hoc measure that emerged out of a Double Track challenge the government has been working to fix through various SHS infrastructural expansion interventions.”

“With about 80% of such projects completed, one can only expect that once SHSs return to Single Track, possibly by next year, we shall revert to the traditional 3-term pre-tertiary calendar.”

“Eduwatch believes that the semester system emerged with the Double Track, and not on the back of any proven, unsurmountable challenges with the 3- term system. On this basis, it is only logical that the semester system leaves along with the Double Track.”

There is no need to alter the traditional 3-year term system.

SOURCE: Coverghana.com.gh