Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum
Minister for Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum has explained that the decision to suspend the semester system that generated brouhaha was due to the concerns raised by the teaching body.
According to him, he decided to withdraw from the semester system after they had complained that, the vast majority of the teachers were against it, therefore, leading to the cancellation of the system.
The Minister was speaking at the Information Ministry’s Meet the Press Series on Sunday as he addressed a wide range of issues and development in the education sector.
It will be recalled that the decision of the ministry and the Ghana Education Service (GES) to introduce a semester system was greeted with massive opposition from the teaching body and various CSOs.
The minister, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum for the first time stated that there are no changes that either the semester or trimester system brings to the results of the students but it was just for convenience purposes but since it was not welcomed that’s why it was suspended.
Dr. Adutwum noted that whatever he seeks to do is to work to make the teachers’ happy and willing to be committed to working thus the decision to suspend the semester which he says he believes made the teachers happy.
Education Minister some weeks ago directed that the academic calendar of public schools be reverted from the semester system to the trimester system known to the teachers.
The teachers had argued that they were not consulted before the announcement.
The reopen date of basic schools was followed with a directive that all schools would run a semester system, a decision that came as a surprise to major teacher unions who protested.
The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), the Coalition of Concerned Teachers, Ghana (CCT-GH), and the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) – forming the Unions in Education sub set – 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 to that effect.
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 Daniel Bampoe