Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum
Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, has directed that the academic calendar of public schools be reverted from the semester system to the trimester system.
It would be recalled that the Ghana Education Service (GES) on Thursday, January 13, 2022 announced new dates for reopening of public schools from kindergarten to Senior High Schools (SHSs).
The reopen date was followed with a directive that all basic schools would run a semester system, a decision which came as a surprise to major teacher unions who protested.
The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Assocaition of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), the Coalition of Concenerd Teachers, Ghana (CCT-GH) and the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) – forming the Unions in Education – kicked against the move giving various reasons including lack of consultation.
“Such a major policy change should have attracted a wide consultation and therefore find both the pronouncement and the document offensive and takes exception to them,” they stated.
It is against some of these reasons that on Friday, January 21, 2022, the Ministry of Education issued a statement signed by Press Secretary to the Minister, Felix Baidoo saying that “After further consultation on the issue, the Honourable 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.”
As a result, the first term will run for 12 weeks from Tuesday, January 18 to Thursday, April 14.
There will be about three weeks of vacation ahead of the second term, which begins from Tuesday, May 10 till Thursday, August 18.
The final term will run from Tuesday, September 13 to Thursday, December 22.
By Vincent Kubi