The Head of Public Relations for the Ghana Education Service (GES), Cassandra Twum Ampofo, has assured that all students will have the same number of instructional hours or weeks regardless of the duration of the term assigned to them.
This comes following the brouhaha over the re-opening and vacation date for Form 2 students in the Senior High Schools.
According to the new GES 2023 academic calendar, for double-track students in Form 3 [three] who opened schools on January 10, 2023, the GES noted that they will go on break between April 6–16, 2023, and return on April 17, 2023.
The students will then go on another break between June 2–8, 2023. They will resume on June 9 and stay in schools up to September 15, 2023, to end the academic year for the first term.
For the form two SHS students, they re-opened on January 10th and went on break on February 17.
This got a section of the public, especially parents complaining about the short duration of the term.
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Speaking about this on Atinka TV‘s morning show, Ghana Nie with Abena Dufie, Cassandra Twum Ampofo noted that the GES was moving away from the double track system where initially, form one had red, gold and or green track and they students had to wait for their turn according to the colour to go to school.
“For this calendar, that people are saying the Form two students re-opened on January 10th and vacated this February 17th, yes, it was short, but they had to come home to create space for the new Form one students that are coming in,” she explained.
She continued, “What we have arranged on the transitional calendar is that getting to the end of the year for the second years in particular, the form three students will not be around, they would have completed their WASSCE, there would be space, and it gives room for the form two students to be in to have their full space.” “So the contact weeks and the instructional hours they are supposed to receive, they will get exactly that.”
Assurance
Cassandra Twum Ampofo assured parents that “if your child is in a double track school and is using the transitional calendar, it does not mean that the academic calendar will change for the Form 2 students that have come.” The single-track Form 2 will resume on April 6th, and the instructional hours or weeks they will spend are the same for those who are going for about a month. Just that for these ones, they feel the term is short, but it has been embedded in the academic calendar for the year to make up for the lost time.
Meanwhile, she said the changes are not affecting the quality of teaching and learning, adding that that is why the GES is using the transitional calendar.
She also admitted that, at some point, the education system will go back to its former stature as it was before COVID-19.
Ghana| Atinkonline.com| Porcia Oforiwaa Ofori
