Semester base policy has to scrapped for broader consultation”- Education unions raises red flag

Some unions in the Basic Education Sector are calling on the Ghana Education Service (GES) to immediately withdraw the new policy changing the trimester to a semester-based academic calendar for broader consultation.

The unions consisting of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Ghana National Association of Teacher (GNAT), Teachers and Education Workers Union (TEWU), and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana  (CCT-GH) in a joint statement, said they will fiercely resist the policy if the government fails to withdraw its decision.
“We, therefore, call on the GES to immediately withdraw the policy, pending full consultations with the Unions in Education and other major stakeholders and to serve notice that failure to do so would be resisted fiercely,” they said.
According to the group through the Secretary for TEWU, Mr. Mark Denkyira Indicated that,  for such a major policy decision, the government should have engaged the teacher unions.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Public Relations Officer (PRO) for the Ministry of education, Mr. Opoku Mensah says teachers are consulted on every educational policy and would not be left out in this too. He said the semester system is not new to the educational system. “It has been the system at the SHS for some time now”, he said.
Justifying the need to introduce the semester system at the primary schools, Mr. Opoku Mensah said, the outbreak of the COVID 19 Pandemic has led to the change in the academic calendar and there’s the need to adjust.
He is therefore urging the Unions to bear with the government for a better future for Ghana’s educational system.
The Ghana Education Service, GES, has earlier indicated that the newly-introduced semester-based academic calendar for public Kindergarten, Primary, and Junior High Schools has come to stay.
Speaking to the media on this, the Deputy Director-General for Quality and Access of the Ghana Education Service, Dr. Kwabena Tandoh said, the system will help ease pressure on teachers, decongest the various schools, and help align academic calendars.
“We know based on research that one of the causes of classroom absenteeism among teachers in the various schools was because some teachers sought to upgrade themselves. This is because the three-term system in the basic schools overlaps with the university system. Gradually, we are getting to the point where we can align. We are giving teachers the time, by aligning their system with the university systems to upgrade if need be”, he stated