Professor Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa
Junior High Schools (JHS) in the country are set to be run on the semester system with effect from this new academic year.
This was disclosed by the Director General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Professor Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa a day after President Akufo-Addo announced the reopening of schools at various levels of education across the country.
This forms part of the easing of restrictions on the COVID-19 pandemic which led to closure of schools for almost a year.
Speaking at a press briefing on the measures put in place for the reopening of schools held by the Ministry of Education, Professor Opoku-Amankwa said, “JHS will be running semester programmes this time around. We will make sure that the basic protocols are observed. We will provide reusable face masks. Schools will not be available for outside activities.
“They will start from January 18 to June 11. They will then go for a break. The second semester will begin on July 6 for examination. The form ones and twos on the other hand will end the academic year on December 7, but because this will be a long period, we have set up mid-semester breaks. We will have March 15 to 19, 2021 for the first-semester mid-semester break and the second-semester mid-semester break will be from September 6 to 10, 2021.”
A semester is one half of an academic year.
If an academic year is divided into semesters, it means it is divided into two semesters.
They are typically used in high schools and universities.
In many universities, a semester lasts 15 to 18 weeks.
In his 21st update to the nation on the COVID-19 pandemic Sunday evening, President Akufo-Addo announced the reopening of schools from kindergarten to university, effective January 15.
He thus directed that “all SHS 1 students will start classes from 10th March, with all students embarking on a single-track academic calendar.”
Their seniors in SHS 2 and SHS 3 will, however, return to school from 18th January.
He, however, stressed that “SHS 3 students in all schools, like SHS 1 students, will no longer run the double track system.”
That, he said, was because “the expansion of infrastructure at the various senior high schools, over the last three (3) years, has brought us to this favourable situation.”
That notwithstanding, he indicated that the double track system would still be applicable to SHS 2 students in schools that are employing it.
Students in universities and other tertiary institutions are also to be in school from Saturday, January 9.
Prior to their return to school, government, through the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service has promised to ensure that all institutions, public and private, are fumigated and disinfected.
“Schools and institutions, with their own hospitals and clinics, will be equipped with the necessary personal protective equipment, and have isolation centres to deal with any positive cases,” he said, adding, “All other schools and institutions, without their own clinics and hospitals, have been mapped to health facilities.”
He, however, noted that “there will be, for now, no mass gatherings and no sporting activities” and that “religious activities for students at school, under the new protocols, will be permitted.”
Social distancing and the wearing of face masks are therefore expected to become the norm in the country’s schools.
The requisite provisions have been made to ensure that students at all levels of the educational ladder receive the minimum number of contact hours upon return to school.
To facilitate the safety of students, government, through the Ministry of Education, will provide face masks, ‘Veronica’ buckets, hand sanitisers, liquid soap, rolls of tissue paper, and thermometer guns for the safe reopening of the schools.
The Ministry of Information, the Ministry of Education, the Ghana Health Service and the Ghana Education Service from yesterday, January 4, commenced a series of sensitisation campaigns to help prepare, inform and educate guardians, students and the public on further modalities associated with the reopenings.
The President has since assured all parents and guardians of government determination to protect the lives of all students, teachers and non-teaching staff, who will be returning to school.
That was however not without a caution that “every one of them must adhere strictly to the protocols to protect themselves and others.”
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent
-Ghana|dailyguidenetwork
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