Some unions in the basic education sector have called 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 NAGRAT, GNAT, TEWU and 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, for such a major policy decision, the government should have engaged the teacher unions.
“We state emphatically, that at no point in time were the Unions in Education consulted on such a major policy decision…Per our Collective Agreement with regards to our working conditions, major policies such as this should come for discussion and negotiation,” the statement added.
On January 14, 2022, the GES in a Facebook post announced the introduction of a semester-based academic calendar for all basic schools.
This has been opposed by some Education Think Tanks including Eduwatch.
Eduwatch demanded that the GES rescinds the decision to make the semester system permanent.
“..we shall revert to the traditional three-term pre-tertiary calendar. Eduwatch believes that the semester system emerged with the Double-Track, and not at the back of any proven, unsurmountable challenges with the three- 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 three-term system,” Eduwatch stressed.
Meanwhile, all pupils in basic schools will return to school on January 18.